TRANSPLANTED IRISH INSTITUTIONS - University of Canterbury

95
entertained.64 The Press did not comment on Mosley's lecture except to say that "there was
but a small attendance, and the interest manifested was on a par with it."65
There was interest in Mosley's lectures again when Reverend J.S. Smalley of the
Wesleyan Church preached to a crowd of about 1000 people on "The Infallibility of the
Pope, and Paster Chiniquy's critics criticised." Smalley'S sermon included a criticism of the
recent lectures by Mosley. He denounced Mosley's anti-Chiniquy lectures as cowardly and
likened Chiniquy's misrepresentation to that experienced by Christ. 66 In the same paper
that day there was a letter by Mosley defending his actions by claiming that he could only
hold lectures about Chiniquy after he left Christchurch because it was only then that the hall
was free.
He also claimed that "Mr Smalley said, even if I could not get the Hall, the
columns of the press were open to me. Perhaps you will kindly inform him that you- with
other editors in Christchurch- declined to insert controversial letters referring to Mr.
Chiniquy and his lectures. 67 In light of this comment by Mosley on press censorship it is
not surprising that there does not appear to have been much opposition to Chiniquy's
lectures. Other accounts of Chiniquy's lectures indicate that they were well attended and no
incidents of violence occurred. Mosley seems awkwardly alone in his criticisms but then
the recent events of the Boxing Day riots probably meant that any Irish Catholics who
would normally voice their disapproval did not do so because of the desire by the bishops
to not be seen causing any public strife. Once again, Reverend Smalley accused Mosley of
failing to meet Chiniquy face-to-face and thought that Mosley could have secured another
hall other than the Oddfellows Hall. 68
Chiniquy attracted large audiences and the Orange and Presbyterian connections
were maintained throughout Chiniquy's tour.
He was welcomed in Christchurch by the
Moderator of the Presbytery of Christchurch, William Homer and Edward Revell the Grand
64Ibid .. 23 February 1880.
65Press,23 February 1880.
66Lyttleton Times, 24 February 1880.
67Ibid .. 24 February 1880.
68Ibid .. 27 February 1880.