THE CENTENARY OF 1798.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 38, 21 January 1898, Page 5

THE CENTENARY OF 1798.

TO THE EDITOR, N.Z. TABLET. SIR, — In this world we should be almost prepared for anything, but I must confess that I was not prepared for the rather voluminous effusion which appeared in the last issue of the Tablet over the signature, "P. J. O'Kegan." It would be impossible, except in the diatribes of a " Roaring Kane," to find anything so hopelessly unphilosophic and so presumptuously ignorant as Mr. O'Regan's production. Mr. O'ltegan has the brazen-faced audacity, under the cloak of patriotism, to tell Irishmen that they must not celebrate the memory of 'IKS, lest, forsooth, they may hurt the susceptibilities of the bigoted and ignorant portion of the community. Mr. O'Regan tells us that the celebration will foster " racial or religious hatreds" ; will be showing sympathy towards " rebellion" ; will be a Catholic movement ; will be misconstrued by the ignorant ; and will thereby excite the ire of the mob. What noble sentiments He then proceeds to give us a lecture on religion and on the Church and institutes a comparison between the Church of the living God and the ravings of rank Socialists. Now in a country like this there will always be a number of people who will think and speak in this manner, without once suspecting that they are only repeating the Socinian and so-called " Liberal" cant of the day. Peace is beautiful, and we are always to follow after the things which make for it ; but peace is founded in truth and justice, and there is and can be no peace out of God. It is the peace of the Lord which was left with the faithful, and which they are to study to merit and preserve. The Church in thia world is the Church militant, and does and must wage deadly warfare with falsehood, error, heresy, sin, iniquity, and her children forget their love and fidelity to her when they shrink from this warfare, seek to divert her from it, or show the least disposition to

sound a parley with her enemies. All the faithful are soldiers enlisted for the fight during the war, and not one of them can retreat without dishonour, not one of them ever hope to be able to put off his harness and ground his arms so long as life remains. The victor's crown is only for those who persevere unto the end. Nevertheless, such people as " P. J. O'Regan " there are. and probably always will be — for scandals will remain unto the end of the world — and these will always study to conceal their cowardice and their lukewarmness under the respectable names of prudence, liberality, and sometimes even that of holy charity. They will be an incubus on the breasts of their more zealous brethren, and justify themselves on the ground that they are conciliating and winning over those without, when in renlity they are only ceasing to offer them any opposition. They will consider their faith almost exclusively as something to be presented to other*, and made as unobjectionable as possible to the world in which they live. They will always ask of each article of faith, of every statement of Catholic doctrine : How will this strike our Protestant friends ? What must they think of it ? What will they think of us if told we hold it ? Anxious to avoid opposition, they will always show the white feather, try to explain and qualify away all the grand dogmas of our holy religion, and thus be always labouring- to reduce Catholicity to its minimum. Now, to return to '98. Was the rising really a'• rebellion " ? Was it not rather the honest endeavours of a people groaning under the intolerable weight of cruelty and oppression, to strike a blow for liberty and for their native land ? " Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said ; This is my own, my native land." Now, I maintain that the rising of 1798 was not a " rebellion, but rather a just, an honest, and a patriotic uprising of the people. Therefore, we Irishmen at Home and abroad would be worse than traitors did we not in some little way honour the memory of those departed heroes. Why not review the history of our country during the past hundred years, and if she has unredressed wrongs to-day, as she had then, why not tell them to the bigot, and the ignorant, and the idiot ? Men of to-day form unions ; combine for their rights; go out on strike, and, if their cause be a just one, we sympathise with them and give them pecuniary aid. Must old Ireland, the land of our forefathers, the land of the saint and the scholar, the patriot and the poot, remain for ever in silence and oblivion ? According to the latest doctrine, the doctrine of "P. J. O'Reqan," she muat and ought.— l am, etc. James Lynch. St. Michael's Presbytery, Palmerston South.

TO THE EDITOR N.Z. TABLET. Sir, — In this Colony we have some gentlemen of Irish blood who profess much sympathy and love for Ireland, but whose patriotism is of so accommodating a nature that it will vanish altogether rather than run the risk of wounding the refined susceptibilities of anyone supposed to entertain an opposing sentiment. As long as they retain their views to themselves I have no fault to find with these gentlemen for thefliinsiness of their patriotic consistency but when they assume the office of public dictators, and call upon; us to abandon our views as being pe.nicious, and to accept theirs as being infallibly true, then, I hold, we are justified in inquiring into the tenableness of the position they take up. In last week's issus of the Tahllt, Mr P. J. O'Regan treated your readers to a lengthy dissertation on the manifold evils that would follow from the commemoratiou of the '!)S centenary in the colonies. He pointed out, as a certain resulting consequence, the resuscitation of racial hatred, and visioned up the disinterred and rehabilitated skeleton of sectarianism stalking through the land, summoning forth from their retirement the twin demons of strife and disorder. This gloomy picture of the terrible, so realistically and redundantly outlined exists only in the perfervid imagination of the writer. I refuse to insult the intelligence and broadmindedness of the great majority of my fellow-colonists, of whatever creed or race, by believing them for a moment capable of taking up the position thus assigned them in connection with this event. I refuse to accept the interpretation of their feelings, as made manifest by the somewhat alarming prognostications of Mr. O'Regan. I am well aware there are a few peculiarly constituted individuals who believe nothing good can come out of Ireland, but that we should indulge the distempered fancies of these few to the extent of foregoing the honouring of the memory of our patriot dead, would be to relinquish all claim to the name of Irishmen, and brand ourselves with indelible treason and shame. Believe me, this commemoration, if carried out on broad undenominational lines, as doubtless it will be here and elsewhere, would not give offence or be construed into an approval of rebellion, or revive the bitter memories of the past, but on the other hand, would commend itself to the sympathy and appreciation of all just and upright men. Yet our friend from Reef ton considers that we Irishmen are quite unequal to the task of carrying it successfully through without dissension and discord, and to save us from the consequences of our folly, he pleasantly suggests organised opposition to the whole business ! Verily, Mr. O Regan is kind and considerate to a degree. But Mr. O'Regan has unwittingly ignored, or else failed to grasp, the true intent and meaning of this movement. It is not as patriots only that we honour and cherish the memory of the men of '1)8. In every land and age, those who have been uncompromising in their opposition to tyranny and oppression, and who have offered up their lives at the shrine of man's social and political emancipation, have been 'especially honoured. They are the never-tiring theme of the historian ; they inspire the poet and painter ; they fire the eloquence of the Drator. Of such as these were the leaders of U .)S. They arose, Catholic and Protestant alike, against an organise! system ot tyranny and oppression as cruel and brutulising as the world has ever seen. In this they stood upon an equal plane with Wallace, Tell, Washington and others, and although victory crowned not

their efforts, their aim was not the less exalted, and therefore their glory is none the less bright. In observing the forthcoming centenary, then, we honour the memory of these men, not as Irish patriots only, but as humanitarians to whom the world at large is in some measure indebted.

It is not necessary to my present purpose that I should follow the irrelevant waYderings of Mr. O'Regan's letter. The relation of the Catholic Church to Socialism and Nationalism is a broad question, the discussing of which in your columns at the present juncture could be productive of no possible good. Enough that the Church, in the breadth and sublimity of its teaching, embraces all that is pure and good throughout the whole range of human institutions. Much more to the point is the fact that the Church in the colonies is not opposed to the commemoration. His Eminence, Cardinal Moran, has given it his entire approval, Mr. O'Regan's inference to the contrary notwithstanding. His desire is, as far as I can gather, that it should be carried out in a manner befitting the occasion. In conclusion permit me to say that I regard Mr. O'Regan as a young man of ability and promise. In journalism and politics he has already won his spurs, and in any matter relating to these professions he can with justice claim a respectful hearing. But when he arrogates to himself the role of dictator and essays to sit in judgment upon Irish sentiment and Irish national character — when, in short, he would despoil us of our most glorious inheritance, our patriotism, then it is high time we should tell him he has come to preside over the wrong court, admonish him for his temerity, and dismiss him with a caution. — I am, etc., P. E. NoiiAN. South Dunedin. [We shall be glad to afford all reasonable scope for the discussion of this important subject, but correspondents would greatly favour us by making their letters as brief as the nature of the topic will allow.— ED. N. Z. T.]