Correspondence.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 44, 1 March 1895, Page 25

Correspondence.

[We are not responsible for the opinions expressed by our Correspondents. ]

MR DAVITT AND CATHOLIC EDUCATION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TABLET.

Sib,— l must confess to feeling more than a little mild surprise on reading yoar note " Michael Davitt on Catholic Education." Mr Davitt and the infidel propagandist, T. P. O'Connor, are fresh from a campaign of insult and insuboidination to the bishops and priests of London ; a campaign gratuitously undertaken by these men in connection withjthe London School Board elections, in support of anti-Chris-tian secularists and blatantly offensive anti-Catholic undenominationalista; a campaign undertaken in support of such men against candidates, some Catholic, all denominationalist.

Mr Davitt is, as can be learned from bis letters to the Melbourne Advocate, coming very soon to the Colonies, on a money-gathering expedition. The money is not, I unders'and, to be collected for the evicted tenants ; nor is it to go to the I.N.P. fund. It is intended to replenish the Davittian exchequer. Mr Davitt has been publicly challenged to dare, in the light of hia late foolish and scandalouß antics in connection with the London School Board elections to visit his countrymen in the Colonies — men who have had Borne practical experience of Mr Dbvitt's proteges — secularists and undenominauonalist bigots, Evidently Davitt espied danger ahead — dangpr to his money-making project. So, seiziog upon an opportunity a£E )rded by a bazaar at Greenoek, he has fallen on. his knees ani poured forth a profession of orthodoxy. His act of repentance consiets of some outrageous nonsense as to the mctl od he thinks best suited to securing the redress of Catholic educational grievance, tacked on to a few threadbare quotations from Thierry and Dr Johnson, about the saints and scholars who belonged to Erin in the days before" Malachi wore bis collar of gold ! " Any white man, or black man, for that matter, who finds n to hia purpose may orate about the Bainta and scholars who were in Erin in the times long, long ago. L mdon Jews, aud evtn "coloured " gentlemen of New York hava been kuown to do so, when appealing to Irish people whom they thought verdant. Yet it would appear that Davitt's Qreenock second-hand litany to the Hiberni-tn holyrsen of the dim distance touched a soft cord in your breast. For, you gave a column and a half of your paper to his pious garbage, and waving your absolving hand over his bowed head, you solemnly assured your readers that there was now " left no room for doubt as to the soundness of Mr Davitt's views on education and his complete loyalty as a Catholic ! " I think, Sir, that those of your readers, who are even slightly acquainted with the story of Mr Davitt's doi.igq during the closing months of the past year, will not ba so soft and inlulgeat cowards him as is your charitable self. Much public interest has been shown at Home in the late London School Board elections. Home paper*, especially Catholic papers have teem9d with items of newa on the subject. Platforms, Catholic and Irish, are Btill ringing with denunciations of the shameful part taken by two or three Irish " patriots "

in those elections. Would you kindly allow ma a little spice for a very brief summary of information on the matter ?

The Archbishop of Westminster, acting within the lines of daty, told hig people that, in the coming School Bjird elections, every Ca holic should vote for nea favourable to denominational schools, and willing to place them on an equality with Board schools ; that this was not a political, but a pnrely religious question — a qiestion on which depecded the safety of the religion and morality of their children ; and that the Catholic mußt be grossly ignorant or grossly indifferent tothe interests of his religion and hla God, who would vote for the narrow, intolerant, and unchristian " Progressives" — i pirty whose aim was to etarjre out and destroy the denominational schools. An appeal of like import was made to the Catholic congregations in all the chnrchea of Westminster and Southwark on the same Sunday. Bat, lo 1 appeals, directly counter, are issued by Messrs Davitt and O'Connor— Davitt declaring that, as "an enlightened Catholic," were he a voter in London, ht would not obey bishop or cardinal ; he would vote £)r the party of progress. A series of letters by Davitt, and of editorials by O'Connor, insulting to Cardinal Vaughan and the Catholic clergy, and written to excite the people to a schisma'ic revolt, were published in tht infidel London Sun. "No return of tht Mass ! " "no re-introduction of the confessional 1 " " no priestism!" "no Apoatles' creed or divinity of Christ in our schools I " no re-lighting of the fires of Saaithfiald ! " no ma^ncreof St Bartholomew 1 " no surrender of the traditions of our ancient city ! " " None of the abominations of a system which our forefathers wisely swept away at the blessed Reformation 1 " S ich were ordinary loci communes of the election rhetoric of Mr Davitt's meek and progressive allies; at whose feet he would hava his fellowcountrymen wallow in the mire, by hiding away their faith, violating obvious Catholic principles and disobeying the authorities of their Church 1 Indeed, "Davitt" and '■ no Popery " shone conspicuous on green placards handed to Catholic voten entering the polling booths 1 But, enough of the particulars of this disgraceful and filthy business.

Sj great has been the indignation aroused among the Irish Catholics of London by tbe action of Messrs Davitt and O'Connor that branch after branch of the Irish National League have passed resolutions emphatically condemning it. Here is just, one sample: " Proposed by Mr J. Buckley and seconded by Mr W. Brown :—: — That we, the members of the St Laurence O'Toole Branch of the I. N. L. of Great Britain, tak6 this opportunity of strongly c mdemning the action of Mr Michael Davitt, in involving himself in the recent School Board Elections, and helping the raisirs of the ' no Popery ' cry, and of txpressing our regret that he did not fiid it convenient to visit London before or on the polling day (he had beea challenged to do t?o by four of the Londoa Irish clergvj, as t^e Catholic electors of Bethnal Green were prepared to meet him and give him a reception befiu'n^ ih> occasion." The reading of tho^e resolutions and of the Bpeecho3 in which they were proposed must have been interesting reading to Mr Davitt, and must have aided very much in deepening his repentance and defining his orthodoxy. Now, Sir, Ido not presuma to lecture an editor. I venerate too much the halo that hovers over his sanctum. But I may, perhaps, be permitted most respectfully to submit that, were I the editor of an Irian Catholic paper— a corppheus of rectitude ia ths mat er of education and an impulsive skull-cracker in the m-itter of suppo ed charlatan?, making a lever towards selfish ends of the patriotic and religious sentiments of Irish people — I should, in the present case, first givo my readers some idea of the history of the late Londoa School Board elections. I should in the second place give some extracts from Mr Davitt's letters to the iufiiel London Sun -letters displaying very hazy and queer ideas on the subject of education, Finally, having given sufficient space to Mr Davitt's profession of orthoxy, I should modestly stand aside and allow my readers to decide for themselves whether or not " Mr Davitt'a speech left no room for doubt as to the soundness jf his views on eduoitioi and his complete loyalty as a Catholic— l am, etc, William BuiKE, The Presbytery, Queenetown, February 20, 1895. [It seema, however, that we have left oar readers almost an infinity of room for doubt on the matter. Indeed, it would appear that we have left some of them room enough to pass over the region

f doubt altogether and go into perfect certainty on the other side. The severe view, however, taken of Mr DaviH's conduct by our rev correspondent has evidently not been shared by the priesthood generally. We shall not point to the r-iv gentleman who invited Mr Davit t to speak on the occasion, for referring to which our rev correspondent castigates us. And we do not know that " Bub " need equeak any tht less for the balmy words that accompany his whipping. A bazaar, we admit, is an exceptional occasion. We shall, therefore, only remark in passing that eleven priests were present, and that the Archbishop sent his good wishes and blessing . Bat we see that at a meeting addressed by Mr Davitt at Loughrea on Sunday, January 5, the chair was taken by the Rev R. Meagher, Adm.and the aecond cbair by the Very Rev Canon Canton, P.P., Athenry. These priests, who undoubtedly had carefully watched, and were aware of all that had been said or written in London, would not have countenanced Mr Davitt had he been accountable for the furious anti-Catholic language quoted by our rtv correspondent, or had they had reason to believe that he could approve of any such language. Our Catholic contemporaries besides — the Edinburg Herald and the Glasgow Observer — had taken the same view of the Greenock speech swe took. The fact is, we took the speech as we found it. We had already, in the more authoritative and solemn portion of our paper — our leading columns — ondemned, in the strongest manner possible, the opposition given in London to Cardinal Vaughan. We had with great regret seen Mr Davitt implicated in the matter, and we were relieved to find an utterance in which he seemed to give expression to a penitent spirit, We cannot for our part accept Mr Davitt as a vulgar adventurer who is ready to disguise his opinions on mercenary considerations. There f»re some points in his opinions with which we totally disagree, but his whole life has given proof of his honesty and disinterestedness. He certainly does not deserve to be ranked with " charlatans "of any class. If, moreover, we have shown any exceptional softness with regard to Mr Divitt, and, with all due respect to our rev correspondent, we cann it even now see that we have done so. We are hardly ready to olush for it. ;he pathos t-f his history as well as bis services to Ireland, meri's for him some especial consideration.— Ed. N Z Tablet ]