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HUGH MCNEILE (1795-1879)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 266 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HUGH See also:MCNEILE (1795-1879)  , See also:Anglican divine, younger son of See also:Alexander See also:McNeile (or McNeill), was See also:born at See also:Ballycastle, Co . See also:Antrim, on the 15th of See also:July 1795 . He graduated at Trinity See also:College, See also:Dublin, in 181o . His handsome presence, and his promise of exceptional gifts of See also:oratory, led a wealthy See also:uncle, See also:Major-See also:General See also:Daniel McNeill, to adopt him as his See also:heir; and hewas destined for a See also:parliamentary career . During a stay at See also:Florence, See also:Hugh McNeile became temporarily intimate with See also:Lord See also:Byron and Madame de See also:Stael . On returning See also:home, he determined to abandon the prospect of See also:political distinction for the clerical profession, and was disinherited . In 182o he was ordained, and after holding the curacy of Stranorlar, Co . See also:Donegal, for two years, was appointed to the living of See also:Albury, See also:Surrey, by See also:Henry See also:Drummond . See also:Edward See also:Irving endeavoured, not without success at first, to draw McNeile into agreement with his See also:doctrine and aims . Irving's increasing extravagance, however, soon alienated McNeile . His See also:preaching now attracted much See also:attention; in See also:London he frequently was heard by large congregations . In 1834 he accepted the incumbency of St See also:Jude's, See also:Liverpool, where for the next See also:thirty years he wielded See also:great-political as well as ecclesiastical See also:influence .

He repudiated the notion that a clergyman should be debarred from politics, maintaining at a public See also:

meeting that " See also:God when He made the See also:minister did not unmake the See also:citizen." In 1835 McNeile entered upon a See also:long contest, in which he was eventually successful, with the Liverpool See also:corporation, which had been captured by the Whigs, after the passing of the Municipal Reform See also:Act . A proposal was carried that the elementary See also:schools under the See also:control of the corporation should be secularized by the introduction of what was known as the Irish See also:National See also:System . The threatened withdrawal of the See also:Bible as the basis of denominational religious teaching was met by a fierce agitation led by McNeile, who so successfully enlisted public support that before the new system could be introduced every See also:child was provided for in new See also:Church of See also:England schools established by public subscriptions . At the same See also:time he conducted a See also:campaign which gradually reduced the Whig See also:element in the See also:council, till in 1841 it almost entirely disappeared . To his influence was also attributed the defeat of the Liberal parliamentary candidates in the general See also:election of 1837, followed by a long See also:period of Conservative pre-dominance in Liverpool politics . McNeile had the Irish Protest-See also:ant's horror of Romanism, which he constantly denounced in the See also:pulpit and on the See also:platform; and See also:Macaulay, speaking in the See also:House of See also:Commons on the See also:Maynooth endowment in See also:April 1845, singled him out for attack as the most powerful representative of uncompromising See also:Protestant See also:opinion in the See also:country . As the Tractarian See also:movement in the Church of England See also:developed, he became one of its most zealous opponents and the most conspicuous See also:leader of the evangelical party . In 1840 he published a See also:volume of Lectures on the Church of England, and in 1846 (the See also:year after See also:Newman's See also:secession to See also:Rome) The Church and the Churches, in which he maintained with much dialectical skill the evangelical doctrine of the " invisible Church " in opposition to the teaching of Newman and See also:Pusey . Hugh McNeile was in See also:close sympathy with the philanthropic See also:work as well as the religious views of the 7th See also:earl of See also:Shaftesbury, who more than once tried to persuade Lord See also:Palmerston to raise him to the episcopal See also:bench . But although Palmerston usually followed the See also:advice of Shaftesbury in the See also:appointment of bishops, he would not consent to the See also:elevation to the House of Lords of so powerful a political opponent as McNeile, whom Lord See also:John See also:Russell had accused of frustrating for thirty years the See also:education policy of the Liberal party . In 186o he was appointed a See also:canon of See also:Chester; and in 1868 Disraeli appointed him See also:dean of See also:Ripon . This preferment he resigned in 1875, and he lived in retirement at See also:Bournemouth till his See also:death on the 28th of See also:January 1879 .

McNeile married, in 1822, See also:

Anne, daughter of See also:William See also:Magee, See also:archbishop of Dublin, and aunt of William See also:Connor Magee, archbishop of See also:York, by whom he had a large See also:family . Although a vehement controversialist, Hugh McNeile was a See also:man of See also:simple and sincere piety of See also:character . See also:Sir Edward Russell, an opponent alike of his religious and his political opinions, bears See also:witness to the deep spirituality of his teaching, and describes him as an absolutely unique See also:personality . " He made himself leader of the Liverpool See also:people, and always led with See also:calm and See also:majesty in the most excited times . His eloquence was See also:grave, flowing, emphatic—had a dignity in delivery, a perfection of elocution, that only John See also:Bright equalled in the latter See also:half of the, McNeile's See also:voice was See also:adoption of the Federal constitution of 1787, as a member of public oratory . His the See also:faction led by Willie See also:Jones (1731-1801) of See also:Halifax, See also:North ruled an Carolina, but later withdrew his opposition . In See also:Congress he denounced See also:Hamilton's See also:financial policy, opposed the See also:Jay Treaty (1795) and the See also:Alien and See also:Sedition Acts, and advocated a continuance of the See also:French See also:alliance of 1778 . His party came into See also:power in 1801, and he was See also:Speaker of the house from See also:December 18oi to See also:October 1807 . At first he was in See also:accord with See also:Jefferson's See also:administration; he approved the See also:Louisiana See also:Purchase, and as See also:early as 1803 advocated the purchase of See also:Florida . For a number of years, however, he was politically allied with John See also:Randolph.' As speaker, in spite of strong opposition, he kept Randolph at the See also:head of the important See also:committee on Ways and Means from 1801 to 1806; and in 1805-1808, with Randolph and See also:Joseph H . See also:Nicholson (1770-1817) of See also:Maryland, he was a leader of the See also:group of about ten See also:independents, called the " Quids," who strongly criticized Jefferson and opposed the presidential candidature of See also:Madison . By 1809, however, See also:Macon was again in accord with his party, and during the next two years he was one of the most influential of its leaders .

Phoenix-squares

In December 1809 he introduced resolutions which combined the ideas of See also:

Peter Early (1773-1817) of See also:Georgia, See also:David R . See also:Williams (1976-1830) of See also:South Carolina, and See also:Samuel W . See also:Dana (1757-1830) of See also:Connecticut with his own . The resolutions recommended the See also:complete exclusion of See also:foreign See also:war vessels from See also:United States ports and the suppression of illegal See also:trade carried on by foreign merchants under the See also:American See also:flag . The substance of these resolutions was embodied in the " Macon See also:Bill, No . 1," which passed the House but was defeated in the See also:Senate . On the 7th of April 1810 Macon reported from committee the " Macon Bill, No . 2," which had been See also:drawn by John See also:Taylor (1770-1832) of South Carolina, and was not actively supported by him . This measure (amended) became See also:law on the 1st of May, and provided for the See also:repeal of the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809, authorized the See also:president, " in See also:case either Great See also:Britain or See also:France shall before the 3rd See also:day of See also:March next so revoke or modify her edicts as that they shall cease to violate the neutral See also:commerce of the United States," to revive non-intercourse against the other, and prohibited See also:British and French vessels of war from entering American See also:waters . In 1812 Macon voted for the See also:declaration of war against Great Britain, and later was chairman of the Congressional committee which made a See also:report (July 1813) condemning Great Britain's conduct of the war . He opposed the See also:Bank Act of 1816, the " See also:internal improvements " policy of See also:Calhoun (in the early See also:part of his career) and See also:Clay, and the See also:Missouri See also:Compromise, his speech against the last being especially able . In 1824 Macon received the electoral See also:vote of See also:Virginia for the See also:vice-See also:presidency, and in 1826-1828 was president See also:pro tempore of the Senate .

He was president of the North Carolina constitutional See also:

convention in 1835, and was an elector on the See also:Van Buren See also:ticket in 1836 . He died at his home, See also:Buck Springs, See also:Warren See also:county, North Carolina, on the 29th of See also:June 1837 . See William E . See also:Dodd, The See also:Life of Nathaniel Macon (See also:Raleigh, N.C., 1903) ; E . M . See also:Wilson, The Congressional Career of Nathaniel Macon (See also:Chapel See also:Hill, N.C., 1900) . 19th See also:century . Its See also:fire was See also:solemn force. probably the finest See also:organ ever heard in See also:action was as graceful as it was expressive . He See also:audience." See J . A . See also:Picton, Memorials of Liverpool, vol. i . (1873) ; Sir Edward Russell, " The Religious Life of Liverpool," in the See also:Sunday See also:Magazine (June 1905); See also:Charles See also:Bullock, Hugh McNeile and See also:Reformation Truth .

(R . J .

End of Article: HUGH MCNEILE (1795-1879)
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