THE FENIAN DEMONSTRATION

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 208, 31 March 1868, Page 3

THE FENIAN DEMONSTRATION

(jtkom the wellington inbe■penuentJ The Fenian demonstration which •took,place at Hokitika on Sunday,fortunately passed off without any breach -of the.peace having been committed, -but the act itself involved an outrage of the law. We telegraphed to Hokiitika for full particulars, which, through some mischance, have not arrived, but the brief information supplied to the Evening Post from Nelson, shows that eight hundred people walked in procession through the streets of Hokitika ; that the procession was headed by Father Larkin, dressed in full canonicals; that the procession,proceeded to the cemetery, and took the gate off its hinges—permission to enter having been refused by the trustees —and that when the entrance had been effected, the Latin service was chanted, and then a memorial cross was erected to •the memory of Allen, Larkins, and. Gould. So far, it is satisfactory to learn that this ill-timed and foolish procession led to no serious ill-results, •but it is at the same time necessary to protest .against the commission of • an illegal act, such as that of which those who took part in it were guilty. In the West Coast Times of the 4th dust., it was stated that an application had been made for the grant>of a piece " of ground in the cemetery on which to erect a memorial cross, and this, it appears, the -trustees very properly •refused to give them. In new settlements such as some of those in New Zealand, there is often only one 'place of interment, in which Catholic • and Protestant, when levelled by the great hand of death, are alike interred. It is therefore incumbent upon those to whom the care of God's Acre is entrusted, to jealously guard iit from desecration. And to many minds, the erection of a cross in such a place, to the memory of Allen, Larkins, • and Gould, who died the death of mur•derers on the scaffold, will appear to be the w r orst and most shameful desecration of ground consecrated to a sacred purpose. What must the relatives of the Protestants who are buried there think of this funeral procession—this •erection of a cross to convicted mur- • derers —this pollution of the last resting place of those whose loss they yet weep? We record our solemn protest against an act which is equally shameful and illegal. It is shameful because it 'Outrages the feelings of those who are not Fenian sympathisers, and who desire to save the remains of •their friends from dishonor; it is illegal, because eight hundred men assembled to force open the gates of the cemetery, and setting its guardians at defiance, erected their cross on ground ■upon which they had-no right to enter. Such an outrage, perpetrated in a space where authority is weak, deserves the severest reprobation, and we trust those who planned it may yet be made to answer for their misdeeds. It is consolatory to reflect that many of the leading Catholics in New Realand, and more notably those in the province, were unanimously opposed to the •Hokitika demonstration. We have the best authority for stating that Bishop "Viard telegraphed to the Rev. Mr M'Donogh and Father Larkin emphatically insisting that neither they nor any other of the Roman Catholic clergy should have anything to do with the intended procession, and we have also reason to believe that Mr M'Donogh at once replied that he would give implicit obedience to the mandate and forward the telegram to Father Larkin. It appears that those wise, judicious, and timely measures on the part of Bishop Viard, have so far been productive of good, because, according to the telegram,the Rev. Mr M'Donogh, who presided at the public meeting at which the procession was resolved upon, did not afterwards take part in it. Still, we are told that Father Larkin, regardless of the prohibition 'emanating from superior authority, '" was at its head, dressed in full -•canonicals," and such conduct, under

the circumstances, will certainly be condemned by those -who, like our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens, look upon the whole proceeding as ill-timed and illegal. From every quarter, indeed, we hear expressions of regret and disgust at what has takou place. In a country like New Zealand, whore every man, no matter to what creed or sect ho may belong, possesses >every political and civil right equally with his fellow-settlers, it is 'wicked and insane to adopt proceedings which not only are in defiance of law, but are likewise certain to raise the most bitter feuds amongst people who have hitherto been friendly and united. Such being the case, we say that the men who originate or take part in such deeds, commit a grievous wrong against their fellow-settlers, and merit the severest reprobation of all right thinking men.