Editing Catholic emancipation (section)

==Emancipation in Newfoundland==
The granting of Roman Catholic emancipation in [[Colony of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] was less straightforward than it was in Ireland, and this question had a significant influence on the wider struggle for a legislature. Almost from its first settlement, Newfoundland had a significant population of Roman Catholics, largely because [[George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore]], was the founding proprietor of the [[Province of Avalon]] on Newfoundland's [[Avalon Peninsula]]. After Calvert himself converted to Roman Catholicism in 1625, he migrated to Avalon, intending his colony there to serve as a refuge for his persecuted fellow-religionists. Newfoundland, however, like Calvert's other colony in the [[Province of Maryland]], ultimately passed out of the Calvert family's control, and its Roman Catholic population became subject to essentially the same religious restrictions that applied in other areas under British control. In the period from 1770 to 1800, the Governors of Newfoundland had begun to relax restrictions on Roman Catholics, permitting the establishment of French and Irish missions.  On visiting [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]] in 1786, Prince William Henry (the future [[William IV of the United Kingdom|King William IV]]) noted that "there are ten Roman Catholics to one Protestant",<ref>[https://www.mun.ca/rels/ang/texts/pwh.htm Memorial University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110015234/http://www.mun.ca/rels/ang/texts/pwh.htm |date=10 January 2011 }}, Note 87: PWH to King, 21 September 1786, Later Correspondence of George III, Vol. 1, 251.</ref> and the Prince worked to counter the early relaxations of ordinances against this substantial majority.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mun.ca/relstudies/|title=Department of Religious Studies|last=Newfoundland|first=Memorial University of|website=Memorial University of Newfoundland|language=en-CA|access-date=2019-04-16|archive-date=10 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410121756/http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/acampbell/pla/PLA07.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Daniel O'Connell - Project Gutenberg 13103.jpg|thumb|left|[[Daniel O'Connell]]]]

News of emancipation reached Newfoundland in May 1829, and 21 May was declared a day of celebration. In St. John's there was a parade and a thanksgiving Mass was celebrated at the Chapel, attended by the [[Benevolent Irish Society]] and the Catholic-dominated Mechanics' Society. Vessels in the harbour flew flags and discharged guns in salute.

Most people assumed that Roman Catholics would pass unhindered into the ranks of public office and enjoy equality with Protestants. But on 17 December 1829, the attorney general and supreme court justices decided that the Roman Catholic Relief Act did not apply to Newfoundland, because the laws repealed by the act had never applied there, being a [[colony]] and not part of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]. As each governor's commission had been granted by royal prerogative and not by the statute laws of the British Parliament, Newfoundland had no choice but to be left with whatever existing local regulations discriminated against Roman Catholics.

On 28 December 1829 the St. John's Roman Catholic Chapel was packed with an emancipation meeting, where petitions were sent from O'Connell to the British Parliament, asking for full rights for Newfoundland Roman Catholics as ''British subjects''. More than any previous event or regulation, the failure of the British government to grant emancipation renewed the strident claims by Newfoundland Reformers for a colonial legislature. There was no immediate reaction from London, but the question of Newfoundland was now before the British Colonial Office. It was not until May 1832 that the British [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] formally stated that a new commission would be issued to [[Thomas John Cochrane|Governor Cochrane]] to remove any and all [[Roman Catholic disabilities]] in Newfoundland.<ref>John P. Greene, ''Between Damnation and Starvation: Priests and Merchants in Newfoundland Politics, 1745–1855'' (1999).</ref>{{Clear}}