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Milner in England, caused alarm among the opponents of the veto, and the Irish bishops, at a meeting held at Maynooth on 25 May 1814, deputed Dr. Daniel Murray [q. v.], coadjutor bishop of Dublin, and Milner to be their agents at Rome for procuring its recall. At Rome Milner remained for nearly nine months, and to Cardinal Litta he gave a written memorial of his controversies with the ‘veto’ party, led by Dr. Poynter and the Catholic Board. He offered to resign his vicariate if he were deemed unworthy of the confidence of the holy see. At the same time Dr. Poynter defended himself in an ‘Apologetical Epistle,’ but it was signified to Milner that his conduct was in the main approved by the pope and cardinals, though he was recommended to be more cautious and moderate. The opposition of Milner and the Irish prelates to the veto was ultimately successful, and it was finally abandoned by Peel when he introduced the Catholic Relief Act of 1829.

Milner's literary contributions to the ‘Orthodox Journal’ gave offence to some of his episcopal brethren, and the prefect of propaganda on 29 April 1820 directed him to discontinue his letters to that periodical, but Milner continued to defend, in various books and pamphlets, the principles which he believed to be essential to the welfare of the Roman catholic church. In particular he warmly opposed two bills introduced into the House of Commons by William Conyngham, afterwards lord Plunket [q. v.], one of which was for the removal of the disqualifications of catholics, and the other for regulating the intercourse of the catholic clergy with Rome.

Milner's health began to break after he had attained the age of seventy. In 1824 he had two serious attacks of paralysis, and in 1825 he received a coadjutor in the person of Dr. Thomas Walsh, who was consecrated at Wolverhampton on 1 May, when Milner was thoroughly reconciled to his former controversial opponents, Bishops Poynter and Collingridge, who assisted at the ceremony. Milner died at Wolverhampton on 19 April 1826, and was buried in the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, where a memorial brass was placed, with a full-size figure of the bishop in his episcopal robes. His fiftieth anniversary was celebrated 27 Aug. 1876 at Wolverhampton, on which occasion two sermons were preached by the Rev. Thomas Harper, S.J.

Milner was of middle stature, and was stoutly built. His complexion was florid; he had hazel eyes, a well-formed nose, and dark expressive eyebrows (, Life, p. 231). His figure was dignified and imposing. By his coreligionists he is generally regarded as the most illustrious of the vicars-apostolic; and his successful efforts to prevent the Roman catholic church in the United Kingdom from becoming subject to state control by means of the veto have been fully acknowledged. By Dr. (afterwards Cardinal) Newman he was styled the ‘English Athanasius.’ He was a divine of the ultramontane type, and detested all Gallican teaching. In discipline the rigidity of his theological training overcame the indulgent kindness of his nature. In devotional matters he was the first to object to the cold and argumentative tone of the old-fashioned prayer-books, and in their place he introduced devotions to the Sacred Heart and the Meditations of St. Teresa. His influence was shown by the conversions which in 1825 had become frequent in this country. After his death the devotional and liturgical changes introduced by him were carried out to their full development, and were made instrumental to the introduction of an Italian and Roman standard of tone and spirit among English catholics.

Milner was a good archæologist. His chief archæological publication was: ‘The History, Civil and Ecclesiastical, and Survey of the Antiquities of Winchester,’ 2 vols. Winchester, 1798-1801, 4to; 2nd edit, enlarged, 2 vols. Winchester, 1809, 4to; 3rd edit., with supplement and memoir of the author, by F. C. Husenbeth, D.D., 2 vols. Winchester, 1839, 8vo. Notwithstanding the Roman catholic bias of the author, this performance ‘will always keep its place among the few standard works in English topography’ (, Bibl. Man. ed. Bohn, vi. 1554). The first edition must claim the preference as regards quality of paper and typography. In connection with this work Milner issued ‘Letters to a Prebendary: being an Answer to Reflexions on Popery by the Rev. J. Sturges, LL.D., with Remarks on the Opposition of Hoadlyism to the Doctrines of the Church of England, and on various Publications occasioned by the late Civil and Ecclesiastical History of Winchester,’ Winchester, 1800, 4to; 2nd edit, enlarged, Cork, 1802, 8vo; 7th edit. London, 1822, 8vo: another edition, Derby, 1843, 16mo. The Rev. Robert Hoadly Ashe published in 1799 ‘A Letter to the Rev. J. Milner, occasioned by his Aspersions [in his History of Winchester] on the Memory and Writings of Bishop Hoadly.’ Milner also published a ‘Treatise on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of England during the Middle Ages,’ London, 1811, 8vo; 3rd edit. London, 1835, 8vo. The article on Gothic Architecture’ in Rees's ‘Cyclopædia’ is by him, and he wrote papers in the ‘