SINGULAR MANIFESTO OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGYMEN.

Grey River Argus, Volume V, Issue 354, 21 April 1868, Page 3

SINGULAR MANIFESTO OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGYMEN.

The Very Rev. Dean O'Brien and a number of Roman Catholic Clergyman of the Diocese of Limerick have issued a remarkable declaration, which opens thus : We have arrived at an epoch of great trial and some danger, and it is due to the people, the Government, and our own position, frankly to express some of the evils under which Ireland labors, and tho remedy which, under the presence of God, we believe to be the most efficacious, if not the only one to give peace, security, and progress to the country. We belong to no party in the State within or without the Constitution. We have no alliance with Whig, Tory, or Radical. We have labored many of us, and some of us incurred considerable odium in our endeavours to preserve public order, and thus we have given a pledge that we are devoted to the interests of peace. In reflecting upon the present position of the nation, then, and offering our honest counsel, we have no impulse to embarrass or to patronise any party, and no object but to perform our duty to religion and the people with whom v.'c are and have ever been perfectly identified. It would be an error and a crime to say that the disaffection of this country is not deepseated and extensive. Deplorable as such a fact may be, no one who knows the country can truthfully deny it. Generally a Hank hopelessness pervades the minds of the population, a dark brooding, all the worse because every day growing in intelligence. This hopelessness operates in two or three directions, and in every one of them is almost equally dangerous Taking the form of emigration, it becomes a longing and resolve to "comeback;" taking the form of conspiracy, it is ever on the watcli for its opportunity ; and taking the form of Fenianism, it becomes reckless of consequences very often, making clanger at home and inviting evil from abroad. We need not say that we know the people of Ireland well. They are emphatically " our own people." We have their confidence, and know their great virtues, as well as what failings fall to their share ; and we solemnly declare that one of the most imminent dangers of the movement of this generation is the magnanimous spirit of self - sacrifice which has animated the mass of those who think of risking their lives, or spending them in even a hopeless contest. That they "cannot be worse," that "there is no hope for the country," and that "it is as good to die," are the sentiments and ethics which poverty and degradation have taught, and which are freqtiently repeated by American success and daring. In one word, as an eminent prelate, a man even singularly distinguished for his devotion to English institutions, has recently said, "If the Grand Turk came to this country, and proffered a fair chance of expelling English power, eyery man, woman, and child would follow him to the field." We deprecate the continuance of this slate of things — equally injurious to the spiritual interests of our flocks and the social and commercial interests of Ireland. We come before the country and the Government, believing that the "difficulty" is not insoluble, though we think it may be rapidly approaching that state of hopelessness. We appeal to the common sense and highest interest of these three kingdoms patiently to hear and judge ; and should we fail in averting a dire catastrophe, we shall have the consolation of remembering that we have done our duty. Without any affectation of confidence we do think that the English people— the great body of that nation — would be inclined not only to justice, but to generosity, were they sufficiently well informed. To these we most especially appeal ; and we shall feel surprised if, having duly considered the condition and claims of this country, they will for ever leave their own at the command of foreign nations sooner than reverse the policy of ruin. Replying to the inquiry, "What are the roots of the evil ?" the document then goes into a long history of Ireland, showing that the people of that country have been deprived by misrule, through long generations, of the means of attaining to prosperity, and concludes thus :-~- We think ourselves no enemies of the commonwealth by seeking to preserve it from such trials as are shadowed forth in the state of affairs just described. All Europe knows these difficulties to which we allude, and American is every day acting upon them. How can any Go vernment vindicate it 3 honor or guard its interests in such a state of things 1 The experience of the last two years proves that, were England at war with any Enropean power to-morrow, that Power would be able to fling a brigade of fifty or sixty thousand drilled and armed Irishmen into the field, perhaps into this country ; and then what would restrain the Irish population, enraged, poverty stricken, and hopeless as they are 1 Again, we declare that the only hope of peace, order, progress, and at last real union, is in tranquillising Ireland. And we solemnly declare that the only means of effectually tranquillising Ireland is by a restoration of her nationality. General legislation by the Parliament of Great Britain will never be equal to the task of teaching, enriching, developing, and raising Ireland. Political economy will never do for a country like Ireland, any more than the ordinary food of health and vigour would do for the weak and sickly. The most exceptional legislation must be employed, the minutest knowledge must be obtained, the most persevering local inquiry must be instituted, and a full, heart-whole, and we would say exclusive attention, province by province, must be directed to discover and remedy Ireland's wants ; and these things an English Parliament cannot perform. An English Parliament has already too much to occupy it ; an English Parliament will always proceed by fixed principles applicable only to organised communities, and they will not do for Ireland; an English Parliament will have to command a combination of parties who know a little of Ireland, and understand the necessity of entirely exceptional legislation — »a thing absolutely essential to Ireland. And, above all, such a Parliament will never satisfy the cravingß of a whole people, whose intellects and whose hearts combine in the cry for nationality. A land tenure will accomplish something ; removal of the Protestant ascendency, by placing the Protestant Church in the same position before the state as the Catholic Church, will accomplish much ; equality in education, and the removal of the ano-

maly of giving a freedom of education on the condition of people giving up freedom, will do its share— and we will hail any and all of them with thankfulness ; but we feel bound to say that when all of them have baen granted, safety from foreign danger, perfect development of home resources, above all, the heart of this country will require nationality. Give Ireland her own legislature and government of her resources — nationality and her federal amity will be a tower of strength to the empire. The country and people will have nothing to complain of any more — they will be themselves responsible for > their own condition ; conspiracies at home J will have nothing to plot about, and conspiracies abroad can promise nothing which Ireland would not be ready to reject find lvsist. England will then be united to us by our best interests, and will be the protector of our more valued privileges, and the miserable conflicts of seven centuries shall have an end. We conclude then, firstly, that Ireland is poor and helpless, not by any fault of the Irish race, but by the force and fault of English legislation. Secondly, that the said English legislation exercised its power, not only in pauperising Ireland for a season, but in destroying nearly all th sources of Irish national wealth, and thus making poverty a permanent condition of the country. Thirdly — That the danger to public order, both at home and from abroad, has been produced by said poverty and degradation. Fourthly — That the very nature of most of the remedies required to make Ireland rich and contented makes it impossible for aLritisli Parliament to adopt and empoly them ;and, besides that home aspirations and the plea for Irish intervention from abroad can never be met, unless by restoring Ireland her nationality, re-estab-lishing the Sovereign and Lords and commons of Ireland. Before the face of Ireland and tho whole world we make this declaration — in the interests of Heaven and carth — the present and the future. With the thoughtful men who sway tho destinies of these kingdoms we leave the issue ; but our own honour aud conscience required that weshould tell the truth, and nothing but the truth, in the face of eventualities of which a Christian clergy should not desire to take the responsibility. We have discharged our duty, aud on the statesmanship of England now rests the deeply important issue.