CHAPTER XII.

FINIS.

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright.—Psalm xxxvii. 37.

To live in hearts we leave behind

Is not to die.

THOMAS CAMPBELL, Hallowed Ground.

WITH the death of his son the public career of the subject of this biography may be said to terminate. The health of Napier, never at any time very vigorous, though always kept in harmony with his labours from the vitality of his nervous system, began perceptibly to fail now that his great stimulus to work and his one absorbing interest in life had been withdrawn. It was evident to all who met him at this time, that sustained industry and close attention to his duties were efforts with which he would gladly dispense. His old energy, and the liveliness which always characterised him when he had something to say or do requiring any strain upon his faculties, had deserted him. He became languid, listless; and exercise, to which he had ever been fondly addicted,

now distressed him, and the time devoted to it was day by day curtailed. He went about his duties as one in a dream, and seemed powerless to struggle against the apathy and depression which oppressed him. All these symptoms but heralded a general break up of the constitution. His old infirmity of deafness increased, and made the act of listening more and more of a labour that was irritating and injurious to him. The state of his health compelled him to absent himself oftener than had ever been his custom from his judicial and other public duties. At last all these premonitory symptoms culminated in an attack of paralysis towards the close of the year 1878, and Sir Joseph now saw that he had no alternative but to withdraw from all work, both public and private.

To

His first step was to sever his connection with the General Synod of the Church of Ireland. that body he had ever since its institution been the staunchest of friends and soundest of advisers. Two letters lie before me giving careful and exhaustive accounts of the prominent part he played in the labours of the Synod, and how marked was the influence he exercised.

I had the pleasure of knowing the late Sir Joseph Napier well (writes Canon Jellett, of St. Peter's, Dublin, in reply to a request from Lady Napier for information as to the work of Sir Joseph in the Synod), having been brought much into

contact with him in the meetings of the General Convention and General Synod, and living in the same city and parish. His unvarying courtesy and friendliness I hold in affectionate remembrance, and even now, after ten years, recall with satisfaction the amiability of disposition ever manifested in his very countenance as he sat near to me in the Synod, when he acted as Assessor and I as one of the Honorary Secretaries.

Before the days of the General Synod, or of the General Convention which preceded it, Sir Joseph Napier took a deep interest in the Church of which he was an attached member, and in which he held a recognised place which his character and ability had secured him. When before the Irish Church was disestablished and disendowed, the Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Irish branch of the United Church of England and Ireland met in public conference in Dublin on April 13 and 14, 1869, Sir Joseph Napier took a prominent place. He was one of the twenty-five laymen of the united diocese of Dublin and Glandelagh, elected by the diocese to represent it in the Conference, other well-known representatives from the same united diocese being William Brooke, Master in Chancery, Right Hon. Vice-Chancellor Chatterton, Sir Edward Grogan, Hon. Judge Harrison, William D. La Touche, D.L., Hon. David Plunket, John Robinson, Right Hon. Sir Frederick Shaw, Right Hon. John E. Walsh, Master of the Rolls, A. S. Harte, LL.D., F.T.C.D., and Edward Cecil Guinness. The first resolution adopted by that Conference, which was moved by the Earl of Longford, is worth reproducing as showing the sentiments which prevailed amongst the Churchmen of that day, and which were strongly held by Sir Joseph Napier :

'That we, the Archbishops, Bishops, and Representatives of the Clergy and Laity of the Irish branch of the United Church of England and Ireland, in Conference assembled,

hereby record our earnest protest against the Bill for its disestablishment and disendowment which has been introduced into Parliament; and it is our solemn conviction that it is the duty of all who value the principles of the Reformationto which the Church in Ireland, both in doctrine and ritual has faithfully adhered-to resist the efforts now being made to overthrow an institution so calculated under God's blessing to promote social happiness and true religion amongst us; and further, that we regard the Bill now before the House as a dereliction of the duty of a Christian State, as an abandonment of the supremacy of the Crown, as a subversion of rights of property secured by fundamental laws and international compact, as an offence and injury to our Church at large, and to many of our brethren an irreparable wrong.'

This resolution was carried unanimously. Whereupon the following was moved by Sir Joseph Napier, seconded by Rev. T. Romney Robinson, and, with an addition of the last sentence at the end suggested by Mr. Robert Hamilton, also passed, That the alienation of the property of the Church which it has held for centuries, which it has not forfeited by any fault of its own, and which it still requires for its wants, is an act of injustice unparalleled in the history of constitutional government, bringing into doubt and danger all rights of property; and we distinctly repudiate what is commonly known as the levelling-up system.'

The speech in which Sir Joseph Napier moved the resolution will be found on page 357 of this biography.

The resistance to the Disestablishment and Disendowment Act having failed, when the elected representatives of the Irish Churchmen met in General Convention Sir Joseph

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Napier was found of course in the front, and took an active part in the building up where there had been a pulling down. The work to be done was great and important, for the demolition had been as extensive as it could well be made. Of all the property owned by the Irish Church nothing was left except 500,000l. in lieu of private endowments, the right to claim within six months churches certified to be required for public worship, and the right to buy glebe-houses and a certain portion of land. The Bishops and clergy and other officials were given annuities conditional on duty as far as the clergy and church officers were concerned, but the Church lost everything save as mentioned. And further, on January 1, 1871, the ecclesiastical law of Ireland, except in as far as related to matrimonial causes and matters, was made to cease as law, and all jurisdiction, whether contentious or otherwise, of all the ecclesiastical peculiar, exempt, and other courts and persons in Ireland, or in any way connected with or arising out of the ecclesiastical law of Ireland, was made to cease. If the Irish Church was not to perish out of the land a struggle had to be made in the lifetime of the annuitant clergy to prepare for the future. To the fund started for the nucleus of General Church Sustentation, Sir Joseph Napier contributed 5001. (Lady Napier gave the same sum), and for many years, even to the day of his death, gave 1007. a year to help poor parishes.

If there was to be any law or order in the disestablished Church, laws and canons had to be enacted and courts established. To these objects Sir Joseph Napier gave his best attention both in the Convention and Synod, and as a member of the Judicature Committee, of which for years he was a member. Even the Prayer Book, the common heritage of the English and Irish Churches, had to be altered somewhat in consequence of disestablishment, and the neces