SIDELIGHTS ON IRISH HISTORY

New Zealand Tablet, 4 January 1912, Page 20

SIDELIGHTS ON IRISH HISTORY

AN OPEN LETTER BY MR. SWIFT MACNEILL Mr. Swift Mac Neill, M.P., has addressed the-fol-lowing '. Open Letter ': to the Right Rev. Dr. D'Arcy, 1 Protestant Bishop of Down and Connor and Dromore: '- Mjr-Lord Bishop,—l feel ,it due ±to myself as , an ; Irish ':l Protestant who cannot-sign : his without being ? reminded of his associations : with Irish Protestant Churchmen to take grave exception = to a series of extraordinary i statements made -by you with reference to your Roman Catholic, fellow-countrymenstatements which assume an enormous gravity when coming : l from a prelate of your well-deserved eminence > for piety-and learning. - - _.r _ - < -_. , 7 -;'" * In an address to the Synod of the diocese of Down, Connor, and Dromore you say in reference tcrthe Roman Catholic Church, 'toleration for her is only a temporary expedient. Would it riot grieve us to hear any Roman Catholic pronounce h such a : judgment on the Irish Protestant Church, even if he were to base it on an historical document and make the following incontrovertible statement: . An Assembly_: of :■- Irish Protestant Prelates,; convened by Archbishop Usher, declared the religion of Papists is superstitious v and idolatrous, their - faith and doctrine; erroneous and heretical, their Church in :- respect to both apostatical; to give them, therefore,;a toleration .or : to- : : consent that . they may freely exercise their religion and profess their faith and doctrine is a grievous sin." '?" , - '";• ; . '"" ' Professions and promises, even the most stringent guarantees,' you say in the sentence - immediately sue-' ceeding the one I have quoted, 'made by individual Roman Catholics are not of the slightest value, even when those individuals happen to be -Cardinals and Bishops, much less political 1 leaders;v? The Roman Church claims the right to repudiate every contract arid: break every such promise," no matter how solemn.' Do you realise,the:insult of such expressions, and the ' Pain and Indignation ■,.;■-, they must create in the,hearts of Irish 1 Protestants—and they are many—-who are on terms of close intimacy and affection with Roman Catholics;and; have as much confidence in their honor arid truth and : ; friendship as if they knelt: at the ; same altar as they themselves ? Would it be -right for. a Roman Catholic to urge that Protestants: do not .regard it ; as obligatory* to keep faith with Roman Catholics,;;and ; to base his argument riot on assertion v but on a matter of history ?:;;; From the pulpit of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, a Protestant; State-made prelate, Dr. Dopping, the Bishop of Meath, preached; a sermon in which •■■• he openly advocated as a sacred duty the repudiationof ":. the Treaty of Limerickthat Treaty by which; ' even the most stringent guarantees '!■■ were given for the ■ security of Roman Catholics in the ; ; exercise of their :; religion ; and the enjoyment of their property —guarantees '■;. which were shamelessly violated by: the atrocious Penal Code, which it has been said :entailed; more misery < than the Ten Persecutions of Christendom. What would be thought of the promulgation of these doctrines with reference to Protestants at this time of day by a Roman Catholic clergyman or layman;!: What would Protestants think of him? \ And still his discourse would be. less wounding to Protestants than your words must be to Roman Catholics, and- would, however misleading, - have - a greater element of accuracy than, in my judgment at least,-appertains to your pronouncement. . .: ~ On this question of the religious toleration of Irish Roman Catholics I take.my;stand on • . " The Judgment of Mr.- Lecky, who was, as you know, trained for 1 the ministry of the Irish Protestant Church, a holder of the Divinity Testimonium of Trinity College, Dublin, a protagonist for the Union, and a member for Trinity College, who had your own support and influence in being • elected for that constituency. ' Irish history,' he writes,. ' contains its full share of violence and massacre; but whoever

will examine these episodes with impartiality will easily convince.himself that their connection with religion has been -most; superficial. Religious cries have been some-? times raised, religious enthusiasm has been often appealed to in the agony "of a struggle, but the real •'causes; have usually been the conflicts of races ,', and classes, the struggle of Nationality against annihilation. Amongst the Catholics at least religious intolerance has never been a-prevailing vice, and those who have studied closely the history and ? character of the Irish people can hardly fail to be struck with the deep respect for ? sincere ? religion in every ; form which they have commonly evinced.' -:■; •'Mr. Lecky's phrase, ' among the Catholics at least religious intolerance has never .; been a prevailing vice,' ■ recalls to i recollection;:. the ?/l ate Earl ;; Spencer s l record of his experiences during;two Viceroyalties in Ireland.. He; stated in a speech in Chester, that he '; had known instances of religious intolerance during Irish administrations, but not on the part of Roman Catholics. : I would ask you to search—your search 1 would be in vain—for an outburst from any Irish Roman Catholic prelate even remotely analogous to ; - " : " ? . The Sentiments -Expressed by , Dr. Marcus ;" i ' ; ?? ■??;????'? , I: Beresford, :.;?;?-? ; ■;'-v? .-..;??- a son of a Bishop of: "Kilmbre; who was himself Bishop of Kilmore, and .afterwards, from 1862 till his death in 1885, Protestant Primate at a salary of £15,000 a year. He spoke thus at; a great Protestant; meeting, and his: words were received, says the report, with loud "cheering, which continued, for several .minutes': ' We shall drive from our glebe lands the Popish rebel and the Popish illicit .distiller,. and we shall plant good and faithful Protestants in their place. ,; I trust that every good and faithful minister of his God would, sooner have potatoes and salt surrounded with Protestants than to live like princes surrounded with Papists. The Irish Catholics - have suffered 1 so much themselves from religious persecution that ;; they have not -the desire, even it they had the power, to persecute others. ; You are much -concerned lest an Irish Parliament might pass legislation for the resumption of churches now possessed by Protestants which were in ? existence in pre-Reformatioh times. In a letter to the Bishop of Ossory I said it is very hard to realise .how a fear of this kind could be seriously, felt by any rational being, and I gave the reasons for ; its baselessness. ?? It is no wonder that his Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Walsh, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, : to use your own words, '.treated. the whole contention as ridiculous.' . The question of the resumption of church property is rather a dangerous ; one to; raise, not;- 1 indeed '■ as v affecting \ the property of the Irish Protestant Church used, for religious and charitable and educational purposes, but for the holders for their own uses of ?: " ':'\ ;; Vast Property Robbed from the Church -..' at the period : of history known as the Reformation. Sometimes on English' platforms I have : said that the lands taken from the Church at the Reformation should at least have been appropriated to public purposes and ] not to found the families of men whom I designate our; '■'.. Church nobility.' This sentiment has always been re- ; ceived ;with favor. 4 It . is ; indeed a : fine?stroke of irony that some of \ the most vehement pronouncements in defence of the rights of property, and of the English and Welsh Established Churches, have emanated from residences which are stillVstyled : Abbeys and; Priories, and carry in their names : the record. that the titles of their owners ; rest on nothing but robbery from the ■ preformation Church, in which Protestants and Catholics have a common and an absorbing interest. ?- rYou elicited 'prolonged ~ applause.' from your audience by a reference to the year 1690 i If you - considered for a moment you would be constrained" to admit that the reign ; of 'The .Deliverer ; was not exactly the time at which the \ dioceses of Down and Connor, over which you preside, were at the zenith of ; their : spiritual k development. . In 1690,?; and for some years subsequently, the Bishop. of these dioceses ■ was \ a"Dr. Hacket, who was Bishop for no less than twenty years, during the whole of which time he never even entered these

dioceses, but lived habitually at Hammersmith, and - put up his benefices for sale. ■■-■'■ ■ -■■■ ■ -.-..■...-_. .';•':.'.-.-?? Needless Apprehension. ; •?^r~-^ : ; You apprehend that in a remote time, if the Union,' on which you .with evident : sincerity believe all our happiness depends, be not maintained, there may be in this country an outburst of militant unbelief, 'secularism, a fierce hatred of religion * and ecclesiastical domination.' 'One-can,* as Grattan once said, never argue with a prophet; one can only disbelieve him.' It is, however, strange that Mr. Isaac Butt, who was, as you S know, ..the: son of an Irish'- Protestant clergyman, writ-' ing in 1870,. and Mr. T. W. Russell, in a speech theother day, held that the establishment T of an Irish Par- f liament., free-from corrupting and atheistic influences, would save this country from the so-called Rationalism which is permeating all sections of British society. ' You : think the establishment of an Irish Parliament and the % restoration to the people of this country of their God- . given : right r to 'manage their own affairs will "be ; a calamity. One of the best of your predecessors; Dr.? William Dickson, who was Bishop of Down and Connor from 1783? till 1804, regarded the destruction of theIrish Parliament as a great calamity, and was one of ■'■ '■■■ '. the signatories to the Irish Lords' Protest against the. Union, drawn up by Grattan", in which the" evils that > atrocious measure has brought in its train were clearly foreshadowed.

• . The establishment of the Irish Parliament is : not more bitterly denounced than was once the Disestablish! ment of the Irish Church. Who now would wish to see that Church re-established, with its : Sees ; filled, not with men like yourself chosen by the people, but with the puppet nominees of a Prime Minister ? The Irish Sees . have ceased to be the • preserves of ■ the younger brothers, or the younger sons of Irish Union Peers, and the hard-worked clergy of the Irish Protestant Church no longer starve on wretched pittances, as • they did while the scions of corruptionist ‘ governing families drew their thousands and ten thousands yearly from a Church the distribution of; whose patronage - was - ■

One of the Greatest-Scandals of Christendom. Dr. Knox, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time of the Disestablishment, because he favored that measure, was insulted in the streets" of Belfast and called ' Judas and - Traitor at a meeting to protest against Disestablishment in "the Ulster Hall. Years afterwards' the ; action for; which he then was exposed to calumny and insult was justified by his election as the first Lord Primate of the -Irish Protestant Church when it ob- ' tained the inestimable blessings of Home Rule. It is because I am as certain as I am of my own existence that Home Rule**for Ireland will do for Ireland what Home Rule has done for the Irish Protestant Church by giving it ~ self-government, instead of a government which has been a corrupt Castle class job,<, J that I with all the warmth that -is consistent with personal respect for yourself enter my protest against both " the statements and the tone of your address to the ' - Down; Connor, and Dromore Synod. ' ' ■- - ■ . ■ ■ ■ ■■■■- ————^—— . — — . . '~«i