omnipotence has often been crudely stated by the Catholic hierarchy.
Archbishop Walsh, of Dublin, has declared that there is no dividing
line between religion and politics. Dr. Walsh has also laid down the
dictum that, "As priests and independent of all human organisations,
we have an inalienable and indisputable right to guide our people in
every proceeding where the interests of Catholics as well as the
interests of Irish nationality are involved." This prelate rescinded
the wholesome rule enforced by his predecessors, forbidding the clergy
to take part in political demonstrations. He went further. He ordered
that at all political conventions an _ex-officio_ vote should be given
to the priests. It is in view of this fact that the Unionists of
Ireland not unreasonably declare that under a Home Rule Bill the Roman
Catholic clergy would become endowed with civil privileges which
would make them absolute rulers of Ireland. It may be urged that
Bishop Walsh is discredited at Rome, and that therefore his utterances
may be somewhat discounted. But what of the new Irish Cardinal,
Archbishop Logue, of Armagh? He agrees with Dr. Walsh, and with
reference to the Parnellite split, thus delivers himself:--"We are
face to face with a grave disobedience to ecclesiastical authority!
The doctrines of the present day are calculated to wean the people
from the priests' advice, to separate the priests from the people, and
_to let the people use their own judgment_!" Surely nothing could be
clearer or more uncompromising than this. Bishop Nulty, alluding to
the refusal of Mr. Redmond's political party to accept without
question the political commands of the Church, thus hinted at the
consequences to recalcitrant Papists:--"It is exclusively through us
that the clean and holy oblation of the mass is offered daily for the
living and the dead on the thousands of altars throughout our country.
It is through our ministry that the poor penitent gets forgiveness of
his sins in the Sacrament of Penance. The dying Parnellite will hardly
dare to face the justice of his creator till he has been prepared and
anointed by us for the last awful struggle and for the terrible
judgment that will immediately follow it." This threat of eternal
damnation was eagerly taken up and re-echoed by the inferior clergy.
Father Patrick O'Connell speaking from the altar at Ballinabrackey
said that no Parnellite could receive the sacrament worthily, and
warned all parents against allowing their sons or daughters to attend
a Parnellite meeting, as it was not a merely political matter, but a
matter of their holy religion. In his sermon he referred to a meeting
of the political party favoured by the Church, and said that every
man, woman, and child must be present. All must assemble at the
chapel, and all must be in time to walk in procession to the place of
meeting. He would be there with Father McLoughlin, and the pair would
go round to see who was absent. All absentees must let him know the
reason why, and if the reason did not satisfy him he would meet them
in the highways and in the byways, at the Communion rails, and would
"set fire to their heels and toes." He would make it hot for them.
There would be no compromise. All voters against clerical instruction
he denounced as "infidels and heretics." Mr. Edward Weir, who was
suspected of having opinions of his own, was denounced in Castlejordan
Chapel as a 'Pigotted Guardian.' He was a member of the Poor Law
Board. He was threatened to be 'met at the communion rails,' by which
he understood that the sacrament would be refused to him. Two nights
afterwards the hedge around his house was set on fire, and fire was
placed on the gate in front of it. This was a gentle hint that the
people were backing the priest, and that unless he complied his house
might be next destroyed. When Mr. Michael Saurin, J.P., a member of
the Ballinabrackey congregation, went to vote, the door of the booth
was crammed to keep him out. The crowd booed and shouted at him, and
he was spat upon. The priests were present in force. Nicholas Cooney
was also spat upon, and so was his brother, both on their clothes and
in their faces. Father Woods was looking on. Matthew Brogan, who was
also thought to be against clerical dictation, was refused admission
to mass; and not only poor Matthew himself, but his son,
daughter-in-law, her children, and two friends who were suspected of
sympathy. The woman insisted on entering the chapel, when one of the
crowd of true believers "near cut the hand off her." Michael Kenny and
Peter Fagan were served with the same sauce by these enthusiastic
preachers of the Onward March to Freedom, poor Fagan exhibiting the
touching devotion of the Irish peasantry by kneeling outside during
the whole of the service. Englishmen do not realise what these
refusals mean to Irish Catholics. They constitute the cruellest and
most effective coercion possible. To be refused the sacraments, to be
turned away from the door of his chapel, is to the Irish peasant a
turning away from the gates of Paradise, a denial of the Kingdom of
Heaven, a condemnation to everlasting torment, to say nothing of the
accompanying odium in which he is held by his neighbours and
associates, and the ever present dread of boycotting. Thomas Brogan
dare not leave the polling-booth for his life, until Mr. Carew took
him on his car. He had been threatened by the priest, who drew a
circle round him with a walking stick, to show that he was cut off
from his fellows, and that contamination must be feared. Patrick
Hogan, whose views were not in accordance with those of the priest,
was afraid to vote. He went to the booth, but feared to proceed.
Thomas Dunn was more plucky, but his temerity resulted in a cut face
and a black eye for his wife at the hands of a patriot named James
Mitchell. Father McEntee tore down a party flag belonging to the
station-master of Drumree, a Parnellite, and jumped on it, in a
towering rage, saying that the owner must follow the instructions of
the Bishop. He then threw the flag into a field. Father Crinnion, of
Batterstown, standing in his vestments at the altar, called out the
names of all persons supposed to be disaffected to the clerical cause,
and ordered them to meet him in the vestry after mass. He asked for
their votes, and showed a ballot paper. He had previously read in
chapel the opinion of Bishop Nulty, quoted above. Father Tynan told
Patrick King that unless he voted "straight" he would not receive the
sacraments on his deathbed. The same priest told John Cowley, of
Kilcavan, that unless he voted for the right candidate he would be
expelled from the Church, and would be deprived of Christian burial
when he died. Cases of this kind might be multiplied _ad infinitum_.
Father Shaw, of Longwood, accentuated the horrible condition of the
party who refused to vote under his orders by asking his congregation
to pray for them. Father Cassidy sailed on the same tack, and besides
thanked God that the "wrong 'uns" were so few. Father Fay, of Cool,
said (between the Gospels) that his political opponents should be
"treated like wild beasts," and that he would never forget the men who
voted against his orders. Thomas Darby was canvassed by his priest,
who, on finding that his parishioner was pledged the other way, curtly
said, "Then you'll go to hell," to which Darby replied that he would
at any rate have a few companions. James Guerin has no confidence in
the secrecy of illiterate voting, for after voting in the presence of
a priest he had to jump a wall and hide in a wood to escape the
vengeance of the people. When he came out, at ten o'clock at night, he
was stoned. Father O'Donnell, presumably in the interests of peace,
advised his congregation to take their sticks to a certain meeting,
and promised to be there with his own faithful blackthorn. The peasant
Fagan, who said his prayers outside the chapel, was burned in effigy,
but priestly displeasure was not satisfied until his cowshed, with a
cart and harness were also destroyed by fire. To have independent
opinions costs something substantial in Ireland. The aspirations of a
People and the Onward March to Freedom are not kept up for nothing.
The patriots are not afraid of their trouble. They will not spoil the
Union of Hearts for want of a little incendiarism. Now and then, but
very seldom, the priests meet their match. They presume on their
spiritual immunity. The priest who refused to leave a house into which
he had intruded was threatened by Colonel Dopping with expulsion.
"Dare to touch my consecrated body," said the "shaved labourer." "Your
consecrated body be hanged!" said the Colonel, and out went Father
McFadden. Father Fay, of Summerhill, said in a sermon delivered at
Dangan:--"You must not look upon me as a mere man! The priest is the
ambassador of Jesus Christ, and not like other ambassadors either. He
carries his Lord and master about with him, and when the priest is
with the people, Almighty God is with them!" Father Fagan, of
Kildalkey, was so vexed with the refusal of John Murtagh to vote
according to clerical instructions that he said:--"May the landlords
come and hunt the whole of ye to hell's blazes." Murtagh said, "Ye
wish yer neighbour well, Sorr!" The man of God threatened to kick poor
Murtagh into the ditch, to which the erring parishioner replied that
in that case he would kick the good shepherd like a puppy. "Ah," said
Father Fagan, "you ruffian, you'll want me at the Last Day," and
refused to hear his wife's confession. The woman was dying, the
husband had been for the priest, and on the way to what proved a
death-bed, Father Fagan improved the shining hour by trying to nobble
a straying vote. The clergy make the most of their opportunities. At
Boardmills Father Skelly spread out a ballot paper on the altar at
Sunday service. Having described the situation of the names, he
pointed out where they were to make the cross. He then went on with
the mass. He thought of something else! Some of them, he hinted, were
pledged to the other side. They could shout for this candidate, but
when they went to vote they must "wink the other eye," as advised by
the music-hall song. Colonel Nolan, M.P., when canvasing at Headford,
was violently assaulted by a priest, who cut open the Parnellite head
with a stout blackthorn. Like a good Catholic, the Colonel would fain
have endured this clerical argument; but the police authorities
insisted on the matter seeing the light.
Clerical domination and the means by which it is attained are
therefore proven by undeniable evidence. The Papal hierarchy and their
subordinates are resolved to be supreme. _Aut Caesar, aut nullus._ And
it is a striking fact that by none is this doctrine so strongly
deprecated, so bitterly resented, as by the educated and enlightened
portion of Roman Catholic Ireland. _Their_ aspirations are all on the
side of toleration, harmony and peaceful progress. _They_ are not only
law-abiding, but loyal, and unlike the ignorant clergy and their still
more ignorant dupes, are ever ready to join in singing "God Save the
Queen." From an English, even a Conservative point of view, the
educated Catholics of Ireland, like all classes of English Catholics,
are everything that can be desired. But what are they among so many?
The consequences of clerical domination, obtained by spiritual and
physical intimidation, are obvious enough. I have not space to show
how the system has been carried into the confessional, but numerous
examples are on record. Neither was it within the scope of this
article to prove, as could easily be done, that the clergy of Rome
claim to be above and outside the action of the statute law, and that
their action is calculated to make the position of Protestants
untenable. The moral degradation of the people, as exemplified by
their dread of the priest, who escorts them in hundreds to the
polling-booth, and by his persistent action and untiring vigilance
exploits their electoral power for his own aggrandisement, and for the
acquisition of Papal supremacy in Ireland, is to Englishmen of all
considerations the most important. Recent events have demonstrated the
fact that the politics of Ireland--and therefore the politics of
England--can be almost completely controlled for any purpose by the
thirty prelates who practically command the votes of an entire people.
A Roman Catholic barrister said to me:--"I do not blame the priests
for doing the best they can for themselves. They have the power, and
they use it for their own purposes. I say they use it unfairly, and
the Meath election petition has proved that they use it illegally.
They think otherwise, but without arguing this point, I say that
clerical domination will ruin the country. Irish election returns are
for the most part worthless as an expression of public opinion."
Another talented Irishman said:--"The glorious British Empire is now
bossed by a party of priests." And that this is unhappily true must be
conceded by every observant and impartial Englishman.
Yet some there are, blind followers of the blind, obtuse to every
argument, impregnable to incontrovertible facts, who have cast in
their lot with the avowed enemies of England. They have their
day--every dog has it--but their day is far spent, and their night is
at hand. For England will never again submit to Romish rule. Nor will
Ireland when her eyes are opened.
Birmingham, August 16th.
No. 62.--CIVIL WAR A CERTAINTY OF HOME RULE.
English supporters of Mr. Gladstone affect to ridicule the fears of
armed and organised conflict between the rival races and religions of
Ireland. Their attitude in this respect is doubtless due to a slavish
following of their master. They keep their eye upon their figure-head.
When it frowns they become serious. When it smiles they try to be
funny. When it assumes an aspect of virtuous indignation, the tears
immediately spring to their eyes, and they go about saying what a
shame it is. They remind you of Professor Anderson and his
Inexhaustible Bottle. Like Paddy Byrne's barometer, they are "stuck
fast at Changeable." They are always on the move. Like Virgil's lady,
they are _varium et mutabile_. Like Shakespeare's gentlemen, they are
Deceivers ever, One foot on shore and one foot on sea, To one thing
constant never. Every morning they nervously scan the journals to see
what change of sentiment is required. Without this precaution they
would run the risk of meeting their political friends with the wrong
facial expression. The reason for all this is well known. Their motto
is _ad exemplum regis_. To-day Mr. Gladstone believes (or says he
believes) that if Ireland were left to herself, and the disturbing,
domineering, tyrannising influence of England were removed, the rival
races and religions would live together in perfect harmony and
brotherly love. His followers eagerly adopt this belief. But yesterday
Mr. Gladstone believed (or said he believed) "That the influence of
Great Britain in every Irish difficulty is not a domineering and
tyrannising, but a softening and mitigating influence, and that were
Ireland left to her own unaided agencies, it might be that the strife
of parties would then burst forth in a form calculated to strike
horror through the land." His followers believed that too, and they
would believe it again to-morrow if their leader harked back. The
quotation is from Hansard, and commences, "It is my firm belief." What
do Mr. Gladstone's infirm beliefs resemble?
Putting aside the changeable Premier, gyrating like a dancing dervish,
and his Penny-in-the-slot party, let us call respectable evidence; let
us hear the opinion of competent and trustworthy witnesses; let us
examine the character of the forces which will be brought into
antagonism; let us observe what steps have been taken in view of
possibilities more or less remote; and then let us form our own
conclusions. And first as to opinions and evidence, let us hear Mr.
J.A. Froude, of all English historians the most famous expert on Irish
subjects. "The effect of Grattan's Constitution was to stimulate
political agitation and the conflict of the two races." That was a
Home Rule Parliament. And again Mr. Froude says:--"Ireland is
geographically and politically attached to this country, and cannot be
allowed to leave us if she wishes. In passing over the executive power
to an Irish Parliament we only increase the difficulty of retaining
Ireland. We shall alienate the loyal part of the population, who will
regard themselves as betrayed. The necessity of reconquest will
remain, but the evils of it and the bloodshed to be occasioned by it
will be infinitely enhanced. Such respect for law and order as exists
in Ireland is entirely due to English authority. Remove it, and the
old anarchy will and must return. If the Home Rule Bill is passed
there will be a dangerous and desperate war, in which other countries
may take part who would gladly see our power broken." In Mr. Froude's
opinion, there would be war between England and Ireland, as well as
between Ulster and the South. His last sentence is curiously confirmed
by the _Irish Daily Independent_, which says:--"What England forgets
is the fact that when next Ireland fights she will not fight alone."
This is not a warning, like the prophecy of Mr. Froude, it is a
threat, for the _Independent_ is not only a Nationalist, but an
intensely anti-English paper. Another great historian, Mr. Lecky, thus
expresses himself:--"The Parliament Mr. Gladstone proposes to set up
would be in violent hostility to the richest and most industrious
portion of the community. It is regarded with horror by nearly every
man who is a leader of industry in Ireland. All the great names in
Irish finance, manufacture, and trade are against it, and the men who
would undoubtedly lead it are men whom Mr. Gladstone not long ago
described with great justice as preaching the doctrine of public
plunder." The state of feeling here indicated could have but one
result; but Mr. Lecky is still more precise. "The assertion that Irish
Catholics have never shown any jealousy of Irish Protestants is of a
kind which I find it difficult to characterise with proper moderation.
Jealousy, unhappily, is far too feeble a word to describe adequately
the fierce reciprocal animosity which has dislocated Ireland for
centuries. It blazed into a furious flame in the religious wars of
Elizabeth, in the great rebellion of 1642, in the Jacobite struggle of
1689, in the religious war into which the rebellion of 1798 speedily
degenerated. These facts are about as conspicuous in the history of
Ireland as Magna Charta and the Commonwealth in the history of
England. No one who knows Ireland will deny that the policy of Mr.
Gladstone has contributed more than any other single cause to revive
and deepen the divisions which every good Irishman deplores." Mr.
Lecky believes that history repeats itself, and that the establishment
of an Irish Parliament would lead to a great Irish convulsion, similar
to those which he refers. My experience among Irish Churchmen
convinces me that their feeling is understated in the petition signed
by nearly fifteen thousand select vestrymen, and adopted by the
general Synod, "That we regard the measure as fraught with peril to
our civil and religious liberties, which are our prized inheritance;
that conflicts of interest and collisions of authority would create a
condition of frequent irritation and intolerable strain." The
Methodists in full Conference gave it as their opinion "That in the
judgment of this committee the bill, if it were to become law, so far
from being a message of peace to Ireland, would be a most fruitful
occasion of distressing discord and strife; that class would be
arrayed against class and party against party with a virulence now
rare and unknown; and that the inevitable result would be the
overturning of all order and good government." What does this mean if
not civil war? Be it understood that the existing feeling is now being
demonstrated by appeal to the most reliable authorities, all speaking
under a due sense of responsibility, and therefore with a studied
moderation. The Presbyterians, a numerous and powerful body, speaking
in the General Assembly, after declaring that the proposed measure
imperils their civil and religious liberties, and expressing their
determined opposition to an Irish Legislature and Executive,
controlled by men "marching through rapine to the dismemberment of the
Empire," whom a Special Commission found to be guilty of a criminal
Conspiracy, and who invented, supported, and tried to justify the Land
League, the Plan of Campaign, and boycotting--after this preamble, the
Presbyterians declare that the bill is "calculated to embitter the
hostility of conflicting creeds and parties in Ireland." The United
Presbyterian Church of Scotland resolved at a meeting of its Irish
Presbytery "that Home Rule would greatly intensify the antagonism now
existing between the two peoples inhabiting Ireland." The Quakers come
out pretty strong. They first ask to be believed. They hope that
Englishmen will give credence to the sincerity of their convictions
and the disinterestedness of their motives, and then they say that
Home Rule "cannot fail to be disastrous to Ireland, and must tend to
perpetuate and intensify the strife and discord which we have so long
lamented and which we earnestly desire, so far as in us lies, to
mitigate and allay." These protests are not all from Ulster. Every
Grand Jury in Ireland has expressed itself in similar terms. The
leading mercantile men of the three southern provinces of Ireland have
declared in writing that "the Bill of the Government throws amongst us
a new apple of discord, and plunges Ireland again into a state of
political and party ferment." Pages of quotation might be added. But
if those already adduced are not sufficient to satisfy my readers as
to the feeling of the Irish Unionist party, they would hardly be
persuaded though one rose from the dead.
The feeling of the other party is still stronger, and has been so
often and openly expressed as to stand in no need of proof. Mr. Dillon
has threatened to "manage Ulster;" and others have over and over again
declared that the Protestant settlers are not Irishmen, and therefore
have no right in the country. The lower classes of Irish Nationalists
regard an Irish Legislature as an instrument to secure ascendency and
plunder. The ruling idea is loot. The Unionists are determined at all
costs to maintain religious equality and to hold their own. In Ulster
masters and men, landlords and tenants, are of one mind. They do not
bluster and brag. Those who represent them as rowdies do them
grievous wrong. They are sober, thrifty, industrious, pious. In
character they resemble Cromwell's Puritans, or the Scottish
Covenanters of old, and no wonder, for they are of the same stock.
They are by nature kindly and peaceful, but they become dangerous
indeed on the points of liberty, religion, and property. We can partly
judge their future by their past. In the dark and troublous days of
rebellion they held the country for England, established a police, did
for Ireland all that Government neglected to do, and then, having
restored order, the small but mighty minority threw aside their arms
and went back to their work. They are before everything industrial.
Wars and rumours of wars they detest, as injurious to trade, as well
as to higher interests. But when they take off their coats they always
win. They put into their efforts, whether in war or peace, such a
strenuous determination, such an unwavering resolution to succeed,
that they become invincible. They have the confidence inspired by
invariable success. Their opponents have the flabbiness and the lack
of self-reliance resulting from seven hundred years of whining and
querulous complaint. If Mr. Gladstone were to offer complete
separation to-morrow the Irish leaders dare not take it. They know
what would happen if Ulster took the field. Spite of their boasting,
Dillon & Co. know full well that their vaunted numbers would avail
them naught.
The venerable William Arthur, a Nonconformist minister, says:--"We
will not be put under a Parliament in Dublin. The Imperial franchise
and all which that guarantees is our birthright. No man shall take it
from us. We will never sell it. If Englishmen and Scotchmen will not
let us live and die in the freedom we were born to, they will have to
come and kill us. On that ground stands the strongest party in
Ireland. For as sure as the Home Rule party is the larger, so surely
is the Unionist party the stronger. Ask any military man who has spent
a few years in the country. Settle the Irish question by putting the
stronger party under the weaker! You would only change a count of
heads into a trial of strength. Instead of the polling-booth, where
nothing counts but heads, you would set for the two parties another
trysting place. There brains count, education counts, purses count,
habits of hard work count, habits of command and habits of obedience
count, habits of success count, delight in overcoming difficulties
count, northern tenacity counts, and there are other things which I do
not mention that would count. Let not the two parties be summoned to
that trysting place!"
During my visit to Belfast I had exceptional opportunities of
ascertaining the probabilities of armed resistance to the authority of
a Dublin Parliament. I visited what might fairly be called the Ulster
War Department, and there saw regular preparation for an open
campaign, the arrangements being under the most able and expert
superintendence. The tables were covered with documents connected with
the sale and purchase of rifles and munitions of war. One of them set
forth the particulars of a German offer of two hundred and forty-five
thousand Mauser rifles, the arm lately discarded by the Prussian
Government, with fifty million cartridges. As I had frequent
opportunities of observing the manufacture of a hundred and fifty
thousand of these weapons by the National Arms and Ammunition Company
of Sparkbrook, I noted the present quotation, which was 16s. each, the
cartridges to be thrown in for nothing. Another offer referred to a
hundred and forty-nine thousand stand of arms with thirty million
cartridges. There were numerous offers from Birmingham, and a large
consignment of rifles and bayonets were about to be delivered in
Ireland, the entire freight of a small steamer, at a place which I was
then forbidden to mention, but which I may now say was Portaferry. An
enormous correspondence was submitted to me in confidence, and I was
surprised to see how deep and sincere was the sympathy of the working
men of England, who with gentlemen of position and influence, and
rifle volunteers by thousands were offering their aid in the field
should the bill become law. I saw a letter from a distinguished
English soldier with an offer of five hundred pounds and two hundred
men. Money was coming in plentifully, and all the correspondence was
unsought. The office had over fifty thousand pounds in hand, and
promises for more than half a million. The forces at that moment,
organised and drilled, numbered 164,614, all duly enrolled and pledged
to act together anywhere and at any time, many of them already well
armed, and the remainder about to be furnished with modern weapons.
The Government was becoming nervous. An order from headquarters
required a complete survey of the three barracks of Belfast, with an
exhaustive report as to their defensive capabilities. Plans of
existing musketry loopholes were to be made, and commanding officers
were to state if it would be advisable to add to them. Suggestions
were invited, and Mr. Morley, who at that very moment was telling
Parliament that no precautions were being taken, wanted to know if the
said barracks could be held against an organised force of civilians,
arriving unexpectedly, and when Tommy Atkins was taking his walks
abroad. At the same time, military officers were being secretly sworn
in as magistrates. Does this look like the fear of civil war? These
statements, made in the _Gazette_ five months ago, have not been
contradicted. The rank and file of the English Home Rule party know
nothing of this--and by what their priestly allies would call
"invincible ignorance" they may be excused their inability to believe
in stern resistance to anything. The party of surrender are totally
incapable of understanding that men exist who would lay down their
lives for a principle. Mr. Gladstone and his Items, like the Irish
leaders and their dupes, are easily overmastered. You have only to
stand up to them, and they curl up like mongrel curs. But for this
fact were would be no Home Rule Bill. Of the two parties the Irish
were the stoutest, and the weakest went to the wall. The English Home
Rulers cannot conceive that their conquerors could be easily beaten,
or even that men can be found to meet them on the field. On the
contrary, the men of Ulster who know these heroes hold them in deepest
contempt, and in the event of an appeal to arms would treat them as so
many mice. Spite of their Army of Independence, the Nationalists
tacitly admit this, and would defer separation until they have first
by legislative enactments driven away "the English garrison," or
compelled Ulster in self-defence to declare against English rule. And,
strange to say, they propose to use to this end the force of English
arms. They calculate on the resistance of Ulster as a measure of
assistance to their own ultimate purposes. "All we have to do is to
stand by while British soldiers shoot them down like dogs." That is
their expectation, as expressed by one of themselves. Their plans are
well hid. But "The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley,"
as the priest-governed schemers may find to their cost.