THE UNHOLY ALLIANCE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 14, 27 July 1888, Page 29

THE UNHOLY ALLIANCE.

( United Ireland, June 2.) Thb Daily Express is no longer alone. The Orange exposition of the Papal infallibility in politics has been countersigned by ths Most Rev. Dr O'Dwyer, the Catholic Bishop of Limerick. Dr. Patton, of tbr Express, the cowardly calumniator of tae I ish people, welcomes his episcopal ally with enthusiasm. Nj wonder. The same thoughts and arguments run through the leaders of the coercion journal and the letter which the Catholic Bsbop stoops to publish in its columns. For the first time in the history of our unhappy country we have preiente ( the pitiful spectncle of the Orange editor or an Orange newspaper patting a Catholic Bishop on the back, and claiming him triumphantly as an ally in the plunder and oppression of his Catholic oop c :— " We publish to-day," writes Dr. Patton, exultingly, in the firs' paragraph of his fi st leader, " one of the most remarkable and poweiful manifeotos ever issued in Ireland in our time. We refer to the letter adciressei by Dr. O'Dwyer, Human Catholic Bishop of Limerick, to the Mayor with refer- • nee to the public demonstration proposed to be held on Su ,dny m-xt, with the object of impugning and discrediting the Papal Rescript. Oar London corresuordent simultaneously repeats .is r.sstr i m that the far-seeing authorities at Rome are resolved, come what will, to compel obedieoce, and to separate from the Cmrc'i a<> rotten members, one after another, such individual! -is continue wilfully to set themselves i<> oppisition to the Pope." Here is, truly, a high honour for the Most Key. Dr. O'Dwyer, Lord Bisl op of L'm -rick. He and Mr. Kernaghan (who does the London correspondence of 'he Express, having been dismissed from the Freeman), are set si ie by sidn before the worli as co- interpreters of th« wi.shes acid intentions of the Pope. The Most Rev. Dr. O'Dwyer cannot complain of the greatness thus thrmt upon him. When he rushed his letter against bis own people into the columns of the Orange Express he claimed the patronage of us editor. He has got it with a vengeance. The Bishop "officially and authoritatively" interprets ihe Circular of the Inquisition, and Dr. Patton officially and authoritytively interprets the letter of the Bishop. The orthodox Orange editor takes it as his text, and preaches to the Catholic faithful fiom his infallible pulpit in Pailiament street a sermon on the Papal Infallibility. "Officially and authoritatively," he cries, "the people of Ireland are now informed by a high and learned Prelate that for it amounts to this— the doctrine of the Papal Infallibility applies to the recent Papal Rescript ; that it is not a mere matter of discipline and good order in the organisation called the Catholic Church, but such an injunction as binds the onscii nces of those whom it concerns." It is the MoFt Key. Dr. O'Dywer's letter that has provoked this profane balderdash concerning the great doctrine of the Papal Infallibility, which all Catholics ace pt wiih reverential awe. It is the Catholic Bishop who hus prompted the Orange editor's silly and insulting meddling wtn eacre t bubj eta. To the Express and its readers the Pope is an imposter. The Papal Infallibility is the mumbo-jumbo of a " foolish superstition "that clouds the minds of "benighted Papists." The O, ange editor condescends to frighten Catholics with the doctrine, as nurses frighten children with a bugbear in the chimney. But, from the height of |his superior wisdom, he laughs in his sleeve at their b- sotted folly. He has no faith in it ; he has no knowledge of it. He c esires none. Therefore, it is nothing strange that Dr. Patton, in hin profound ignorance, should declare that it is henceforth an infallible d. gma of tho Catholic Church that an evicted tenant must shake hands witn a lan i-grabber ; that a rack-rented Campaigner, to whom all reduction is denied by landlord and Land Court, must believe, as a matter of Catholic faith, that his rents are moderate, that he is6ecura against unjust eviction, that to all comers the LaQd Courts are open Hi.d impartial, and that his money has been extorted under the Plan of Campaign. It is no matter that hia own actual knowledge and experieuce give the lie direct to each one of these assertions. The orthodox Express editor has declared them dogmas of the Catholic religion, and Mr. Kernasrhan, the London correspondent, will, "to compel obedi. nee, cat off from the Church as rotten members, one after another, such individuals " as refuse implicit submission to the joint pronouncement of the Most Rev. Dr, O'Dwyer and Dr. Palton,

For this vile travesty by an ultra- Protestant paper of the most sacred Catholic doctrines the Catholic Bishop is largely responsible. His Better provoked it. While wi'h sublime arropance he f rbids the respectful discussion of the Inquisition Rescript by the people who m it moot concerns, he invites to its di«cu-s''on the editors of the Forger, the Liarish Times, and the Daily Express. In his hurry to inform the conscience of the coercion editors on the subject he forgets to se d a copy of the letter to the Mayor of Limerick, for whose ed.fioation it was ostensibly intended, and has thus the advantage of precluding the possibility of a prompt reply. We emphatically deny 'hnt the agita'ion which ihp Bishop so premptonly forbids " is conducted agains- our Holy Father the Pope." The sacred character and position of the wriit-r alone prevent us from characterising the assertion as it deserves. It is the open discussion of what his lorrtship in another part, of his letter oalis a " det >il of political action " — an all-important detail. We respectfully decline to accept as an " official and authont .tive " announcement of the scope and purport of the Rescript the bo! -tempered letter published by his lordship in the newpapers most bit erly hostile to the faith of the people whom he purports to address. There is a certain novelty about this method of promulgation of a matter of Catholic faith and morals in the columns of Protestant newspapers that is not calculated to reassure us. What do the Forger, the Liarish Times, the Daily Express, and the other coercion organs care for Catholic faiih and morals ? Does anyone imagine they would waste their leaders on such a subject? It is, as a political manifesto, hostile to the Irish people and Irish cause that they welcome the Bishop's letter, with an sxultation entirely disproportionate to the position, influence, and ability of its author. We must be forgiven if we refuse to accept the Most Rev. Dr. O'Dwyer as an impartial, far lesa infallible, authority on the subject. His sympathies have ever been with wealth and high position. In his curacy he attached himself to my Lord Emly, and his career in the priesthood and episcopacy has been at least consistent. In every popular struggle his voice and influence were with the enemies of the people. He boasts that some ten years ago he stood on a H >me Rule platform with Mr. But. Colonel King Harman could say as much and more " for his services to Irish nationality." It is an open secret that the Most Rev. Dr. O'Dwryer filled the mind of Mousignor Persico with stories of lawless violence for which bis own diocese alone in Irelaud affords a shadow of foundation, He, too, was the most zealous and the most active coadjutor of the intriguing coercionists at Rome. He is naturally anxious for the success of the Rescript, which he worked so hard to procure. Is it at th* dictation of such a friend the Irish people si ould drop the potent weapons that have helped them so far and so well in the struggle for life and freedom, and will serve them to the end? The Forger, the Liarish Times, and the Daily Express cordially reiterate his advice. Are they also (like his Lordship) anxious only for the triumph of Irish Nationality? pray God the wish be not father to the thought wbea he speaks of " the certain ty of reeding the whole Lhh nation to its base at home and abroid " in'the interest of lanri -grabbers and evictors. He has borrowed the bugbear from the Daily Express It is possible that Sunday's meeting may have eased his mind upon the sub] -ci. The meetings and resolutions of public bodies through the country, the tidings ot earnest sympathy acros-. the seas from every land whore Irishmen have found a home, will help to dispel the absurd delusion. Never was the Irish race more una .imous, more resolut-. They are upon one side the Most Rev. Dr. O'Dwyer,and a handful of Castle Cawthohcs and Coercionists interested inrack-ri'nt" rather than religion aie upon the other. For very shame sake the Ris hop should have been silent on the subject of " persecution " at the vltv moment that he al'ies himself wi'h bis persecutors. The words from his lips or pen suggest dangerous comparisons. While he p-st:s as a maityr and talks about persecution in his palace, his vanity soothed and flattered by the applause and deference of highplaced rack-renters and coercionists, which he has won by the desertion of his people, our thoughts are irresistibly hurried away to Father McFadden — a man ii r > zeal and ability infinitely bi3 superior — alone in his slone-paved cell, subjected to all the torture and degradation which the petty malignity of the Bishop's coercion allies can devise because he had chosen sides with God's poor. The Most Rev. Dr. O'Dwyer will be well advised to drop the word persecution out of his next letter to the Express.