IRELAND.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 716, 12 June 1852, Page 3

IRELAND.

Depopulation. — A Dundalk journal thus remarks on the scanty attendance ot places of worship in that district :— " The Catholic clergy wonder why their chapels a»e deserted on Sundays ; but whfci) one fifth of the population have died and emigrated, is it any wonder that the sacred edifices have become too large for their present congregations 1 The revenue of the country has lost at leas^£2o,ooo by their departure, and the strength, bone, and sinew of the union' have been materially reduced. But in our opinion, no less than 15,000 persons have emigrated from the union since 1841, that is, one-fourth of the population, as-the births. which have taken place lor the last ten years would more than equal the deaths. .Looking at the area of the union and the present population, we see lhat there is one person to every two acres. It has been said that foroieily in England, "every rood of ground maintoinel its man." In the Dundalk union if this were the ca3e, we should have'4oo,ooo persons, instead of 3,000, as at present. In looking over the figures, we observe that Dundalk is the only division nbicb has an increase ; in some of [}\e others there are fearful defalcations.- Carlingford - and itatbeor divisions haveJost neatly 3,000 inhabitants : Killenny shows a reduction of 1201 ; Loutb, BGS ; and Inmskcen, 890."

The Queen's Colleges.— The Galway Mercury makes the fallowing remarks on the subject of the Qaeen's Colleges :—" There are parlies, who, in the teeth of these published words, have the~bardibood still to assert that the Synod of Thurles has not prohibited the Catholic laity from frequenting the Queen's Colleges ; nay, they will tell you that, by the fact of a penalty being affixed to the connexion of clergymen, an indirect encouragement is given to laymen to send their children there. The logic of this is certainly worthy of those who; from corrupt motives and to earn a Government stipend, attempt to mislead the public by their wretched sophistry. Is it necessary for us to ask any honest man, who possesses the use of his reasoning faculties, when he has read the following words, to say whether they rfquire explanation, or admit of a construction different from that which we have put upon them? "5. Moreover, we declare the aforesaid colleges to be such, on account of the grievous and intrinsic dangers to which, in the judgment of the Holy See, trhe faith and morals of Catholic youth studying them are exposed, that they are by all means to be rejected and avoided by the Catholic faithful, who ought to prefer the faith to every temporal advantage and emolument." After this most unequivocal declaration it is not for us or any journalist to tell the Catholic people of;this coantry, what their duty is in relation to this matter. We should be as usefully employed in pointing out the evil consequences of perjury, theft, or any other sin in the Decalogue — for those who will not obey the admonitions of the church, are not likely to pay attention to the warnings conveyed in a newspaper article. The enforcement of those spiritual decrees is now a matter as entirely for the clergy of the Catholic church as that of its other precepts, and in their Lands we purpose for the future to leave it. As long as the question was one admitting of doubt or difficulty, we endeavoured to lead the public to a Tight conclusion upon it, and the soundness of our views has been approved by the highest authority in the world.