THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN INTERVIEWED.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 20, 13 February 1891, Page 11

THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN INTERVIEWED.

His Gbace the Archbishop op Dublin, interviewed by the Dublin representative of the Central Kens, on baturday, November 29th, expressed his opinion on the crisis in the following terms :—: — Would your Grace have any objection to answer a few questions about your letter to the Irish Catholic, communicated to the Press through the Central Nrrvx on Friday night ? None wha'ever. lam told that in some respects the letter ii looked upon as ambiguous. A gentleman of some prominence in Irieh public life, a Nationalist, wrote *o me yesterday, idling me thit it is being twisted this way and that, and asking me to put a stop to the twisting \ rocess by writing or speaking some few more words to clear the matter :ip. I do cot see that there is much to be cleared up. Whatever there may be is the result of my having written the letter under the strongest possible feeling of the necessity of reserve as to one of the central facts of the case. Why reserve f Tou understand my position. I happen to be placed hcie in Dublin in a position of special prominence before the public. But I am only one of twenty-eight or thirty bishops in Ireland. Now, we are an united body. The chief element of our strength and of our influence in the country is our unity. We stand together, and we mean to stand togethtr. In o uch a case, then, as I had to deal with when writing on Friday, I felt bound to write with the strictest teeerve as to the main practical issue. This, at all events, was my feeling in the matter. Up to that point, Mr. Parnell's " Manifesto "

had not been issued. He had not in any way broken silence. Until he did s>, it was impossible to know what he migkt have to say. There still is room, then, for the possible difference of view amongst us as to tl a course it might be our duty to take. That was the reason of my r serve

Your Grace, then, thinks that the publication of the Manifesto nab i ianged the situation ?

i he situation has been totally changed, partly as the result of the publication of the " Manifesto," partly as the result of other matt, rs that have come about within these two days. But I may say t ,at all tbese may be set down as results of the appearance of toe Manifesto. In my letter I referred, not very obscurely, to the case < f the Pigott forgeries. When Mr. Parnell was arraigned before the b ir of public opinion by the publication of the first of the forged Jetteis, he lost no time in setting himself right before the public. b rom his place in the House of Commons be at once made a public protect it.oa of his innocence. He did not choose to defend his character by a process in the courts. But he vindicated his honour by publicly pledging his word that he stood absolutely free of the infamy with which he was charged. That was enough for him to do. Hrf took the very first opportunity of doing it. If I remember rightly, he made his indignant deni.,l in the House of Commons on the evening of the day on which the first forged letter was published in the Tines. Well, some of us who tiusted him looked for a similar declaration now. I hat was the tort of " Manifesto " that would have cleared Mr. Parnell. Now, unhappily, all hope of his being in a position to make any declaration of the kind in the present case seems at an end. So f.tr, i hen, at ail events as my poB turn as a member of the Irish Episcopacy is concerned, there is no longer any room for reserve.

What is your Grace's opinion as to the political drift of the Manifesto f

I do not care to go into the. political aspect of the manifesto Rut there is one point that lies on the surface I mean, of coiuse', the breach of confidence. We had better withdraw from Parliamentary ac'ion, and give up the csuse of Ireland as lost, if we have no other possible leader than oue who has shown that, after acceptting the confidence of an English statesman, he has no scruple in making a desperate effort to scramble out of a difficulty by abusing that confidence and betraying it. Things have come to a lamentable pasn. Whatever happens, Mr. Parnell's unrivalled service to the cause ot Ireland during the past tjn or twelve years of fetoim aad of depression never can be forgotten, lie has done for his country what no other political leader bi fore him had been able to do. He found our people politically dead. He put life and hope into them. Ho took them out of the hands ot unsate guides. He brought back to them their lost trus> in peaceful, lawful, constitutional methods of action. He built up for them a Parliamentary party that could at any critical moment be countel upon, if called upon, to act as one man. He has kept that party together for yeais, with iti unity unbroken. Until a week ago the unity of tLat party seemed, to all appearance?, unbreakable. Now all is changed. In that party of which he was the centre of unity, his position, so long as he maintains it, is one that makes the maintenance of unity impossible. It cm result only m disruption and disaster. Hive you seen Mr. Davitt's statement as to assurances given by Mr, Parnell of his being a bl e to clear himself in the divorce case f Yes Mr. D.ivitt speaks Vt-ry strongly— l may say, bitterly, as I fim sure he feels very bitteily. a l >out th-it n,mg , painful, incident. It w.is through his strong a«-urances to me thit I wis lul to believe that Mr. Parnell woul t come thr m -h Uio OS w\ div >ice case as h» had com,' thiou^h th<> cwot th ; P.^of forg.-n — " with >ut a stain. " Wnat Mr. DDavitt t tells about In? coming to me with the assurances he had receive! from Mr. Parui.ll is peifec'ly accurate. He quo'ed the words for me -•• Divitt, yo i may tell our friends in Ireland that I shall c >m ■ thro'uu this ca-ie without a sta'n upon my honour " ; and he told me, with emphasis, tha' Mr. Parnell had emphasised all this by np'atnuit. Very va urally, 1 believed tin. assurance. I should b> able stil. t > believe it if \lr. Parndl, in his manifesto, or in any ot'ur w .y, hid n,w done what, un ioubte lly. h» wis ctlled upo i to do, supposing him in a position to do if — that n, tmbhc y to pled».> his, word as a gentleman, as he pledged it in the casj ot the forties, tba\ notwithstan ling all appeirancis to the contiaiy, his honour is s'lll unatained. If he o mnot do that, or if he will not do it, his colleagues may rest assure 1 that the party that takes him — or th it retains him — as us lea ier, can no longer couut upon the sapport, the co-operation, the confidence, of the bishops of Ireland. I presume there is no ambiguity about tha: declaration f No, The time has come whm it is a duty to speak out plainly. But, as you observe, in speaking as I have np'oken, I confine myself ail but exclusively to the moral aspect of the caee. If Mr. Parnell can set himself riu'ht as to that, I raise no question a< to the probable politic tl lesults of yesterday's political maniksto. That is a political matttr, and I leave it t > b> deUt with bj tho-e who are the accredited lepns.n'atives of the Irish p "op,i> in tie politic i' affairs of thec.uutiy. But, like everyone el- • in the countiy. I have a right to hold a p rson il opinion in the c »-■, and a n_rhc also fieely to express that opmi >n. 1 give my opinion foi wh it it is worth. 1 cannot but look upon the issuing of the document as an acL of political suicide. It is a disast. r. It will brim: disastei upon Ireland if those -a hose duty it is to guaul her interests are not now faithful to their trust.