Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 19, 8 May 1902, Page 9

Irish News.

CORK.— The Exhibition. At a recent meeting of the executive committee of the Cork International Exhibition it was decided that the opening ceremony should be performed by the Lord Mayor and the Earl of Bandon, tjhe one as head of the city and chairman of the exhSbjition, and the other as lieutenant of the county and city. DERRY.— Death of a Priest. Rev. Daniel O'Doherty, one of the two priests sent out to America to collect funds for Derry Cathedral, died suddenly of heart disease. DONEGAL. Mi\ Hugh Law has .been elected for the parliamentary vacancy in; West Donegal caused by the resignation of (Mr. J' tf d. Uoyle. -Mr, 'Lajw is the son of Mr. Gladstone's Irish Lord Chancellor. He is a brillmnt young man, of excellent parts, and is believed to be a very sincere Nationalist. As he has taken part in some of the great Conventions! in] Dublin, his name and merits are not unfamiliar to those who have taken an interest in Irish affairs of recent years. » DUBLIN.— The Gaelic Revival. A procession in furtherance of the movement for the propagation of the Irish language, organised under the auspices of the Gaelic League, was held in Dublin on Sunday, March 16. In spite of the fact that the weather was most depressing, the gathering assumed large proportions, the attendance being estimated at 20,000. The Lord Mayor attended in State, accompanied by members of the Dublin Corporation. An Appointment. The Most Rev. Dr. Donnelly, Bishop of Canea, has beem. named Dean of Dublin in succession to the -late Mgr. Walsh. Terenure Church. Notwithstanding the inclemency of the day a really fine meeting assembled in Terenure on Sunday, March 16i. with the object of raising funds for the comp.letri.on of the new parochial church now in course of erection. A considerable sum of money was subscribed, including £750 from his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, who presided. This brings his Grace's contribution up to £1500. It is really rnarvell'ous that with a diminishing population so many fine churches have been erected all over the llarid witMn recent years. KILDARE. — A Misconception. The following extracts from the London 'Times' explain themselves : 1 Dublin, February 17.— The piastoral letter of Dr. Foley, Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, which was read yesterday in the churches of that diocese, denounces 1 at some length the boycotting and intimidation associated with the operations of the United Irish League. Dr. Foley, more courageous than his episcopal colleagues, expresses great regret that the Irish people should have been taught that the surest road to remedial legislation lies through- lawbreaking and even through the perpetration of crime.'' In a later issue this: ' Dr. Foley, Roman Catholic Bishop of Killdare and Leighlin, writes to say that the paragraph which appeared in our last issue with respect to his> pastoral letter misrepresents the purport of that document in two particulars : "In the first place," he says, " it states that the letter '< denounces at some length the boycotting and intimidation associated witrti the operations of the United Irish League.' Inasmuch as I was careful to confine my observations to what had occurred in my own 'diocese, I did not denounce either, boycotting or intimidation, for the very gooa reason that I was un-

aware of the existence of eitiher of them. I simply warned the people of my diocese against ' the advice which ha<d been given in a few places,' and I referred to the hesitation of clergymen and others about having anything to do with a movement some of whose promoters did not scruple to recommend practices which had been condemned as opposed to justice and charity. To adjvise a certain course is one thing;. to follow it is quite another. I warned my' people against the first, because it had been given to them ; I abstained from denouncing the second in my own diocese, because it did not exist ;, and otutside, because I was desirQus of hearkening to the exhortation of St. Paul ' that you do your own business.' In the next place, the . paragraph states] that ' Dr. Foley, more courageous than his episcopal colleagues, expresses great regret that the Irish people should have been taught that the surest road to remedial legislation 1 lies through law-breaking and even through the perpertration of crime.' I fear the ciompliment will be withdrawn when I assure your correspondent that, in my opinion, the deplorable lesson to which I referred had been taught to the people of this country by successive Imperial, Governments. I hald thought that the reference to the testimony of tihe late Mr. Gladstone in the very next sentence would put this beyond all doubt/ MAYO.— A Case in Point. In a trenchant article, entitled ' Dublin Castle and. Coercion,' tihe London ' Star * supplies the following admirable summary of the present agrarian discontent in Ireland .-■— The truth is that the Government itself has created the present Irish discontents. Take the case of the Dillon estate. The Congested Districts Board bought Lord Dillon out for £294,000, and resold to his 4000 tenants. The tenantsi who paid £1 a year to Lord Dillon now pay 13s 4d to the State as a terminable annuity. £20,000 of arrears are wiped out. Landlord, agent, bailiff, and rent' office vanished. What is the result ? The neighboring tenants have struck for the 'Dillon rent.' The Attorney-General for, Ireland admits that this is natlural. Yet the Government is asked to wage war against men who only claim equal treatment. ROSCOMMON. County Court Judge O'Connor Morris, in opening the Roscommon Quarter Sessions, said that the Grand Jury need not be sw.orn, as only one case had been listed, and; that was not to be gone on witjh. The following resolution on behalf of the Grand Jury was' then hlanded to the Judge with a request that it be forwarded to the proper authorities :■ — ' That we, as Grand Jurors assembled at Roscommon Quiarter Sessions for the discharge of crimi-i nal business, hereby enter our strongest protest against the action of a number of landlords and agents,, who comprised tihe Grand Jury at the recent Spring Assizes, in describing this county as being in a state of lawlessness 1 and as a locality in which crime existed, in order to, back up the final struggle of rackrenting landlordism., and calling, on the Coercion Government in. this 1 downtrodden country to put in force the powers vested in them to suppress a just comlhiiiation of the people for the lawful rights ; and as 1 a proof of the crimel'ess state of t(his county we, as ratepayers and representatives of the people, again protest against being, summoned from distances when not a single charge agrarian or otherwise is preferred! agfeiUnst any individual. That copies' of this resolution be sent to the county representative and the Chief Secretary. An Anomaly. Judge O'Connor Morris, who heard the appeal of Messrs. Fitzg^bbion and

Webb),! accused of ' unlawful assembly ' and 1 inciting tenants 1 o\n the estates' of Lord de Freyne and- other landlords not to pay their rents, sentenced them at Athlone to four nidnths' imprisonment each as firstclass misdemeanants. The remarks of the judge (says the ' Catholic Times ') formed a curious commentary on the prosecution. Practically, he made out a perfect case in justification of the accused, and his words were absolutely in harmlony, with the speech on this subject delivered by Mr. T. W. Russell in the House of Commons. The purchase of the Dillon estate and its sale to the tenants, the judge declared,, gave the tenants! .on the adjoining, estate a legitimate grievance. The tenantsi were subjected to great provocation,, were led into temptation, and their leaders, prominent amongst whom were the accused, had been naturally) induced to do as they had done. The Juldge went even so far as to state that Mr. Fitzgibbon to a large extent saw the things as he saw them, himself, and he added : ' I hlave read your speeches with great care, and I don't think there is anything, very criminal in them.' But, though that was his view, he sentenced Mr. Fitzgibbon to four months' imprisonment. Clearly he did it against his will and' with reluctance, for whatever may be his political opinions, his observations during^the, hearing of the case prove he understood it in all its bearings and felt' that the prosecution was a grave blunder. WATERFORD. After a lapse of almost a century, the Chapter of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore has been revived, with the sanction of his Holiness Pope Leo XIII. The last Catholic Dean of Waterfond was Dr. Thomas O'Hearn, V.G., who built the present Cathedral of Waterford in 1793, and who died on November 13th, 1810, having been Dean for the long term of 40 years. He it was who founded St. John's College, of which his nephew, Father Thomas Flynn, became first president, whose death is chronicled on June sth, 181 S. Dean O'Hearn also introduced the Presentation Nuns into Waterford./ As far .back as July 6th, 1210, Pope Innocent in. confirmed the Dean and Chapter of Waterford, consisting, of 12 Canons and 12 Vicars-Choral, in all their possessions,. The See of Lismore was united to that of Waterford by Pope Innocent VI. in 1355 ; and on the translation of Roger Craddock, Bishop of Waterford, to the See of Llandaff in 1,363,, Thomas Reeve became first Bishop of the united dioceses of Waterford and Lismore. With Dean O'Hearn expired the ancient Chapter of the united dioceses, and now, by Papal Indult, the Chapter is re-erected, to consist of a Dean, Archdeacon, and 10 Canons. GENERAL. The National Festival. St. Patrick's Day was observed, a's indeed it has always been observed, in Ireland (writes a Dublin correspondent) with great religious solemnity j the churches everywhere were crowded, and the number of Communicants extremely large. It was also observed to a large extent, although not entirely so, as a general public holiday. The tendency in this direction grows stronger year after year, amd cannot be ignored on future anniversaries. A gratifying) fact, and one which deserves wide publicity, is that there was an almost complete absence of drunkenness in the streets of our large towns and cities, notwithstanding) the increased number of people who were at liberty. This undoubtedly is due in a large measure to the opportiunity afforded the working classes to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, a privilege which many of them were debarred from in past

years, owing to the early hour at which they commenced' work. In tho various churches they received timely warning of the temptation and danger which wquld beset them, a warning of which they evidently took good heed. Shamrocks in London. An ample supply of shamrock reached London for use on St. Patrick's Day. Most 6f it that was) for sale at C'ovent Garden was the genuine article. Large quantities were ordered by the West End hotels- an,d by people giving entertainments for use as a table decoration. The Irish Language. The Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language (says the Dublin ' Freeman's Journal ') is in the happy position of seeing, the seed which it has spent so many long and apparently hopeless years scattering in the Gaelic fields spring, up with a strong "'a.nd vigorous life. The Society has always aimed at the schools, and has enormously facilitated ttho work of the schools by its publications. These are now being, consumed by tens of thousands. Last year outdistanced all records. Fiftynine thousand five hundred and ten Gaelic publications were sold, as compared with. 8478 in 1900, which year, was, of course, the previous best* An edition of 10,000 copy"hooks was cleared. The total circulation of the Society's books has now reached the big total of 217,788, exclusive of the American circtul>ation . Two essays in Irish — one on ' Irish Prose,' by Father Dinneen,, and one on ' Irish Ver.se,'' by Dr. Hyde — are about to be added to the Society's list. We hope to see it receive many more additions , and the Society could do no more useful work at present than by developing its eaiergies as a publication department. That it can do the work well the past has proved. Meantime, we agree with it that ' it is in the schools our main reliance mtist be placed for the preservation of the Irish language.' Though all the obstacles have not been removed a patriotic manager and his teachers have now a genuine opportunity of making the teaching of Irish in the schools effective.