THE CATHOLIC VOTE IN THE BRITISH ELECTIONS

New Zealand Tablet, 20 February 1919, Page 33

THE CATHOLIC VOTE IN THE BRITISH ELECTIONS

One of the results of the war will be to bind nations more closely together (says a writer in an exchange of recent date). The conflict has proved to what a large extent the interests of- humanity are interwoven. No one can consider the different phases and the conclusion of the struggle without realising how powerful has been the influence. exercised on the situation by the President and people of the United States. They have swiftly brought to an end an international fight which involved a heavy loss. of life daily, and have largely been the —President Wilson in particular—of giving vitality to those democratic aspirations which are revolutionising Europe. Not for the present alone is America a great factor in decisions as to international relations. Its influence in that respect has come to stay, and I cannot imagine any British elector casting his vote without calling to mind the necessity of cultivating, in view of the possibilities of the future, the good will of America. Now, there is one questionthe Irish question—which is a constant menace to the existence of good relations between Great Britain and the American people. It caused serious trouble during the war. The Irish in the United States, who take the lead in marshalling the nation's political forces, and multitudes of Americans who sympathise with them, were distrustful of the British Government because of the treatment of Ireland. This feeling was, however, overcome. The German outrages were a peremptory challenge to action, and, moreover, representatives of Great Britain assured the people that this country was anxious to solve the Irish problem on democratic lines, and would do so as soon as opportunity offered. For instance, the Bight Rev. Dr. Gore, Anglican Bishop of Oxford, declared in Boston that the English people were determined that the Irish should get the government they wanted for themselves, and that the Protestants of Ulster would no longer be allowed to block the way. Relying on such promises, the Irish in America resolved to wait and see, and meanwhile co-operated heartily with this country. The Right Rev. Dr. Keating, Bishop of Northampton, who, with Mgr. Barnes and Mr. Shane Leslie, formed the English delegation at the'celebration of the jubilee of Cardinal Gibbons, speaking for England, and especially for the Catholics of this country, gave at a meeting in the Catholic University, Washington, a pledge similar to that of the Right Rev. Dr. Gore. According to reports in the American Catholic press, addressing the audience, which included eminent American Churchmen and statesmen, Dr. Keating said: "Strange as it sounds, it is the Church of St. Patrick that has been the foremost evangelist in the English tongue, and that has planted or replanted the faith in every land where that tongue is spoken. In every age the eyes of the greatest leaders in the English Church have been turned in longing expectation towards the Church of St. Patrick, from Milner to Manning and Wiseman, and especially Newman in the imperishable lectures delivered to the Irish Catholic University. English Catholics to-day are no less warm in their affection or less eager for co-operation. The English Hierarchy have nothing to do with party politics anywhere, but this I can say Ulster cannot be allowed to wreck any more statutes. Ascendancy must end in Ireland, as it must end in Prussia and elsewhere. No British patty

—certainly no British Government— ever again be willing to play Ulster’s hand or seek to perpetuate the intolerable situation which has wrought misery to so many generations. To the new Ireland our eyes are' turned in hope, for when the Irish problem is solved then the problem of co-operation among Englishspeaking Catholics will be solved with it, to the enormous advantage both of the Church and of human society. , For the world of English thought and speech is waiting for its soul. Even moulded in material clay, it is a thing of beauty, with its fine natural organism, its love of democratic government, its sense of justice and honor, its loathing of falsehood, double-dealing, selfish ambition, and all the other vices of the super-man.” The speech from which this eloquent passage is taken was delivered on October 24. The Bishop of Northampton was received on the same day by President Wilson. On November 5, with the other members of the English delegation and also the French delegates, as well as many prominent American Churchmen and laymen, Dr. Keating was entertained to luncheon in the Hotel Somerset, Boston, by Cardinal O’Connell, a prelate of no slight influence in American public life, His Eminence, in welcoming his guests, referred to the promises made by the two Bishops, quoting them verbally, and said: “We thank Bishop Gore for the preamble and Bishop Keating for the text of a great international document which soon will be verified in deed as well as in word. England has a glorious chance. She must not fail us. She will not fail. The Gael and the Puritan will then say together: ‘Let us forget the wrongs and sorrows of the past in the joy and happiness, the peace and contentment, of the present and the glorious hopes of the future.’ ” How did the two Bishops feel when they found that the policy of the British Government as announced by the Prime Minister and Mr. Bonar Law is essentially the policy of Sir Edward Carson and the Ulster Protestant Ascendancy Party Their feelings I shall not attempt to analyse, but I venture to hope that the Catholics of Great Britain —not only the Irish Catholics, but also the English and Scottish and Welsh Catholics help to redeem the Bishop of Northampton’s promise by voting for the Labor Party, who will undoubtedly see that it is fulfilled. By doing so they will show that sense of justice and honor to which the Bishop paid such a fine tribute at Washington, and at the same time will render invaluable service to the interests of religion.