THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND "THE ENGLISH FACTION IN LOME."

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIV, Issue 46, 11 March 1887, Page 7

THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND "THE ENGLISH FACTION IN LOME."

The following unsparing exposure of the doinga of a certain section of the " English faction" in Rome has been addressed by his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin to tlie editor of the Daily Ncivs, in reference to the statements made \y the Roman correspondent of that paper as published in the Freeman's Journal of January 5 :—: — '' TO THE EDITOR OF THE ' DAILY NEWS.' "4 Rutland Square, Dublin, January 5, 1887. " Sir, — I can have n - doubt of your willingness to afford me an opportunity of publicly protesting in your columns against a gross abuse of confidence of which your correspondent at Home has been made the victim, and which has resulted in the publication of the highly sensational communication from him in this day's Daily News, "Let me say at the outset that, gravely libellous as that communication unquestionably is, whether as regards myselt or as regards some of the other ecclesiastics uamed in it, I cannot consider that any blame is to hi attached to your correspondent in reference to it. To put the matter plainly, he has been imposed upon, but the trick was played upon him in circumstances in which he could not easily have entertained a suspicion of any such deceit. For every* thing that he states he gives as his authority an informant whom he describes, and whom, I have no reason to doubt, he is fully justified ir. describing, as an ' eminent English member of the Roman Catholic Church,' " ' I have just,' he says, ' had an opportunity of conversing with an eminent English member of the Roman Catholic Church, who h.-.s given me heveral deUils of the views which now prevail in the Vatican on the Irish question.' " Unfortunately, circumstances within my own knowledge make it seem to me by no means antecedently improbable that statements such as that which your correspondent h,\s been entrapped into publishing should have come to bun from such a soaice. Fiequently within the last twelve months or more, many statements of similar import, ( qually unfouuded uiul ujuahy malicious, have appeared, on the same or on some simiUr auUioiiiy, ki the columns of the Daily News and of other English newspapers friendly to the interests of heUnd. Until now, however, those statements were so cleverly worded as to make it difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to contradict them with effect. ' Annoyance ' felt by ' the authorities at the Vatican ' as to the proceedings of ' some of the Irish Roman Catholic clergy ' ; a committee of 'cardinals' in ■ coi fideutial ' deliberation as to the course to be pursued in reference to the action of ' certain prominent ecclesiastical dignitaries in IrelrJii 1 ' , r 'in preparation ' to be forwarded to the deliDqaeuts tuus i-omewh.it obscurely mdi 'ati j d ; such were the safely vague phrases hitherto employed in those underground at empts »t loosening the strong tics <>f affection ite loyalty by which, for so many centuries, the Cathonc people of Ireland have been united with the Sovereign Pontiff and the Holy See. " Emboldened probably by the long course of unchecked licence in misrepresentation, thus skilfully abused, our slanderer has now incautiously ventured into more open ground. He has. for once, put his slander into definite shape. And so, in the Rom.m telegram in this day's Daily JVervs, we have the daring statement, made on the authority of this ' eminent English member of the Roman Catholic Church,' that 'the Pope )iad written to the Archbihhops of Cashel and Dublin not to support Mr. Parnell, but his injunctions were disregarded.' To make matters, if possible, wor->e, this definite statement, which I shall fonhwiih cb -tract i-rise as it dt\~,eives, was made by this eminent informant 'in support of' a long tissue of misrepresentation on the subject of the piesont relations between the Holy See and Ireland, for which he thus succeeded in obtaining, through the not altogether unuatuial credulity of your correspondent, the widespread publicity secured by the insertion of it in your columns. " I have just now spoken of characterising bis statement about me as it deserves. Well Ido not like to use unnecessarily strong language, but trust I shall not be regarded as laying myself open to any such reproach in stating, as I feel called upon to state, that the allegation thus made is, in the most unqualified sense of the words, an absolutely unfeunded falsehood " I venture to hope that this ample and unqualified contradiction of the statement which your correspondent has been entrapped into publishing will have the effect of putting him on his guard in reference to any communications regarding Irish affairs tliat may in future be made to bim by ' English members of the Roman Catholic Church,' no matter how ' eminent ' his informants may be. — I am, air, faithfully youis, "t William J. Walsh, Archbißhop of Dublin.