Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 6, 5 February 1903, Page 9

Irish News.

ARMAGH.— A Contrast. The disgraceful and bigoted proceedings which have taken place at the meeting of the Armagh Board of Guardians during the past year, first in connection with the nursing question, and latterly in connection with the Catholic Catcchist question (says the ' Irish Weekly'), have been instrumental in drawing down upon that socalled 'model' Board tho indignation of all fair-minded men who take an interest in such matters, and in -visiting the Board with well-merited opprobrium. The Protestant members of the Board, who are in the majority, have, in the most relentless fashion, exercised their power in no uncertain fashion, where fair and just Catholic interests have been at stake, and the following extract from a letter which has been received by Rev. Michael Quinn, Adm., Armagh, Chaplain of the Armagh Workhouse, from ' A Resident of Clogheen, County Tipperary,' should prove an object lesson in tolerance to the Protestant bigots of the Northern Board, showing clearly as it does the contrast between their conduct and that of the Catholic guardians who exercise the majority on a Southern Board : — ' Having seen a report of a recent meeting of the Armagh Board of Guardians, I wish to contrast their action with a Nationalist Boavd, the Clogheen Guardians. The chairman here, who is a magistrate, is a Catholic, and all the guardians are likewise Catholics. The inmates are all of the same creed, and so are the officials, with one exception — viz., the matron, Mrs. S. Steele, who is a Scotchwoman and a Presbyterian. She has been here for the past thirty years. On the death, just 22 years ago, of her husband, who was a Protestant, the matron had to resign her office by regulation, and was unanimously re-elected again. Her brother-in-law, Mr. R. Steele, had been for many years master of Cork Union, and had also previously been master of Clogheen Union, although a nonCatholic. The late clerk of the union, a Protestant also, had been many years in office. A Protestant inmate here may be said to be as rare as a " white blackbird," and yet the Protestant clergyman has a stipend from the rates. There is the toleration of gallant Tipperary and Rebel Cork for you. It should put to shame the " local legislators of the Armagh boardroom.' CORK.— Death of a Centenarian. A well-known centenarian in Kanturk has passed away in the person of Mr. Patrick Aherne, of Watergate street. The deceased lived with his niece (Mrs. Timothy Buckley) and up to the time of his last illness was never known to invoke the aid of spectacles in reading lie was a very bright and enlightened old man, and until very recently was fairly active in mind and body. He reached the patriarchal ago of 105 years. DOWN.— Plain Speaking. Some time ago Mr. T. W. Russell, whilst delivering a speech in favor of land purchase at Prom ore, was seriously assaulted by an organised band of Orange rowdies. Mr. Russell drew the attention of the Castlo authorities to the fact that no provision had been made by tho police authorities to prevent the disturbance, although they had notice that an attack would bo made on the meeting. The Under-Secretary, Sir A McDonnell, in reply, said that the police did not anticipate any disturbance, and that every effort would be made to bring tho offenders to justice. To this communication Mr. Russell sont a trenchant reply, tho concluding paragraphs of which were as follows : — ' You state that "every exertion is being made to bring the offenders to justice, and that the Law Officers of the Crown are now considering tho sufficiency of tho evidence to support a prosecution." You will not expect mo, after what has happened, to rely very much upon the " exertions " of tho Dromoro police — and, after their recent exploits in another field, the public who are interested in this matter will probably have as little confidence as I have myself in tho " consideration " of the Law Officers of the Crown. Tho truth is that the offenders are as well known in Dromorc as I am in Dublin. Had I been a landlord — had the meeting been a landlords' meeting — had the rowdies been Nationalists — there would have been no lack of police ; tho heads of tho rioters, not mine, would have , been broken. Within a inonthi the whole of tho offenders would have been before a Crimes Court, and failing Edward the Seventh, Edward the Third would have made a conviction secure. The last paragraph but one of your letter adds insult to the injury received. If you imagine that the farmers of Ulster and their friends— and combined they count seven-tenths of the population — are going to beg for police protection you are mistaken. I shall give you no notice of my movements. We shall in future protect ourselves. I hope to resume my meetings in January. You have taken pains to show the rowdy element in the population that they can proceed with their rowdyism with perfect impunity, and that the Government will keep a ring for them whilst they break the heads of peaceable citizens. But I warn you that on tho next occasion we shajl do our own protection work. ITn conclusion, you will permit me to say with what pain I see your name attached to a document full of statements which you doubtless believe to be true, but which I know to be untrue, and which is worthy of Drblin Castle at its very worst.' DUBLlN.— Housing the Poor. At a recent meeting of tho Dublin Corporation a scheme was approved of for erecting on a cleared area

a £ Montgomery street houses that will accommodate 2500 of the very poor, at rents suitable to their means. The Holy Father and the Corporation Cardinal Rampolla's letter to the Lord Mayor in special acknowledgment of the Corporation address to the Sovereign Pontiff, is evidence (says tho 'Freeman's Journal ) of how much the action of the representative local Councils has been appreciated at the Vatican. The unanimous and general character of those resolutions of congratulation, participated in as they were by several Protestant gentlemen, has evidently touched the heart of the aged Pope. Their representative character, too, was appreciated by a Pope whose Pontificate has had few consolations from the hands of Democratic authorities and Governments. Not, indeed, that even In Italy local sentiment and genuine popular representation has not many times overcome the organised hostility of the enemies of the Spiritual Power. Many an Italian city sympathises with Dublin and the other Irish cities in their action. But the extent of the Irish demonstration was such as no other country could furnish, and both the Pope and his statesmanlike Foreign Secretary have evidently been specially gratified by so unique aii act of congratulation to Pope Leo XIII. The Mayoralty. The following item was cabled out last week : ' Mr. T. Harrington, whose re-election as Lord Mayor of Dublin was opposed by the United Irish League, was elected for a third term of office by 43 to 28.' The intention of the cable agent is to show that the United Irish League has lost its influence in Dublin. The following paragraph taken from the 'Weekly Freeman,' December 20, shows that Mr. Harrington had the support of the League in his candidature : Following a meeting of the executive of the United Irish League held on last Monday evening, a deputation, consisting of Alderman Hennessy, Councillor White, M.P., Mr. P. M'Ardle, Mr. Colo, and Mr J D Nugent, waited on Alderman Dowd to see if he had considered tho resolution forwarded by the executive asking him to retire in favor of the present occupant of the chair, urging as their claim that a feeling existed in tho city, owing to political developments, that he should defer his claim until some future occasion. Alderman Dowd, in company with Alderman Doyle, Councillors Cox and Clark, Mr. JL T. Duignan, and Mr. M. Durham, received the deputation. After hearing thoir views, he stated it was his intention to stand by i the selection made by the Municipal Council, and seek election in January next, relying on the support extended to him on his nomination. Early Printing. Unusual interest was taken in the sale at Southby's Rooms, London, recently of three of Shakespeare's plays printed in Dublin in 1721 They were ' .Julius Caesar,' ' Othello/ and ' The Tempest '—tiny volum»s without boards, and were probably the first of a proposed series. An interesting point in connection with the volumes was that hitherto biographers have always regarded the 1 unique ' ' Tempest ' of Shakespeare, printed in Dublin in 1725, as tho first of his plays printed in Ireland, but the dates of tho three volumes mentioned prove thenpriority. It is also interesting to note that Shakespeare's plays, as represented by the three volumes, were printed in Ireland ten years before any were printed in Scotland, There was an opening bid of £100, and at ■£355 the lot was knocked down to one of the leading booksellers in London. Dealers, who were present in large numbers at the sale, admitted that it was the most notable for many years. Death of a Prelate. The Most Rev. Dr Woodlock died at All Hallows' College on Saturday, December 13. Dr. Woodlock had in 1H95 retired from the See of Ardagh and Clonmac-. noise and withdrawn to tho privacy oi tho great college, which ho so largely helped to found 60 yea is ago. His Lordship was born on March 30, 1819, in the city of Dublin, and received his early education in the famous College of Clongowes. In 1836, being- then in his seventeenth year, the young student proceeded to Home to begin his ecclesiastical studies, entered the diocesan collogo known as the Apolhnara, but with tho intention of later on returning to his own dlocess. In Rome he received tho degree of Doctor of Divinity, and in 1341 was ordained priest. Tho following year he returned to Dublin, and aftor a few months on the mission .oined Father Hand in the foundation of All Hallows' in No\ ember, 1842, and where now, after tho iapso of CO years, he has brought his life of saintly labois to <i clo->3 I\. tityears later Father Hand died, and at ) ;-s dying request Father Woodlock, th»n .n I.!^ ny > m - seventh year, was appointed Vice-President of the <-oi;« t^t Kißht years later Father Woodlock was selected for the office of President, and that position he filled with credit to himself and benefit to the college till 1861, when, at the invitation of the Trish Hierarchy, he accepted the Rectorship of tho Catholic University, in succession to Dr. Newman. For many years he most successfully guided the destinies of the Catholic University, and showed rare tact, ability, and foresight in dealing with situations where the exercise of these qualities was specially called for Ho was always an ardent advocate of the ritrht of Catholics to equality with their fellow Protestants in the matter of higher education. In 1879 Father Woodlock was called to the higher dignity of the episcopate, being appointed to the historic Spe of Longford, and consecrated in Rome by the Pope himself. For many years he directed the spiritual destinies of the people of his diocese, and endeared himself to them by tho saintliness of his life and the sympathetic tenderness of

his nature. After nearly 20 years' occupation of the See of Longford, Dr. Woodlock resigned. He had never completely recovered from the effects of a fall which he met with while returning from his last visit to Rome. In 1895 he resigned the Bishopric, and returned to All Hallows, where he had since constantly resided. LIMERICK Relcs. Some relics of the Siege of Limerick, when General Sarsfield held the city for James IT and King William invested it from, the heights above Penny well, have just been brought to light by Corporation employees. They were employed making excavations outside the old city walls close to where the Royalists attempted to storm the breach, when they dug up a 24 pound cannon ball, and also a quantity of bones. The workmen discovered the antlers of an old Irish deer, but the remains proved too brittle for preservation. Supporting Local Industry. At a recent meeeing the Croom Board of Guardians unanimously adopted the resolution passed some time ago by the Limerick County Council in favor of supporting Irish manufacture when contracts were under consideration. LOUTH.— A Splendid Meeting. A splendid meeting, called by the United '"ishi League, was held in Dundalk on December 1 L The gathering which was addressed by Mr .lohn Redmond, M.P., and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, was representative of the Counties Louth and Armagh. MAYO.— A New History. Students in Irish history will be interested in the announcement that the Key. E. A. o' Alton, CO., Belcarra, Castlebar, is about to issue the first volume nf a comprehensive history of Ireland. The author, whose qualifications for the task, are of a high order, aims at producing a work which shall be accurate, readable, and impartial — a combination of characteristics which are not often to be found in books claiming to tell the history of the Irish race. GENERAL. Aid from America. The letter from the treasurer of the United Irish League of America to the chairman of the Irish Tarty (says a Dublin exchange) is full of encouragement to the Nationalists of Ireland. The letter encloses a cheque for £2000 as the first instalment of the 100,000dols. guaranteed by the Convention to be raised and forwarded within six months and there is confident anticipation that the pledge will be redeemed. The sources of the supply have scarcely been touched at all in this first instalment. The League, he reports, is still rapidly growing in the States The magnificent spirit displayed by the Irish people at home and their worthy representatives in the face of Coercion and tyranny has made a profound inmicssion on this side of the Atlantic, and has aroused a spirit amongst the friends of Ireland here which has never been equalled since the palmiest days of the Land League. r l lie trial and imprisonment of political opponents of the Government, the open and shameless packing of juries, the frantic attempt to suppress public opinion 'on the platform and in the Press, the cramming of the gaols with the representatives of the people — we can well realise how utterly base and vile this procedure must appear to the freedom-loving people of America. The Irish Party and the Education Bill. The ' l>ailv News ' Parliamentary correspondent s>avs: It is absolutely clear that the Lords' amendment was carried purely »>y ilrish votes. A Liberal member counted 56 Tories m the 'No 1 lobby On the other side there were .">7 returned Irishmen— Mr. Redmond s following—plus the nine Irish votes which may more or less be reckoned . o Mr He.ilv's account. Mr Redmond's tactics have certainly answered magnificently as a demonstration of the power of organised Irish democracy. That power, unfortunately, does not move on the same lines as the English people. But its crucial influence on our politics was never more powerfully illustrated -.- A Romantic Story. From the Springfield '-Republican.' a United States paper, we learn that Mr. Michael Davitt has announced his intention to visit the Irish colony in the Argentine Republic. Now that fact that there was such a colony in that country was not known to one person in jv thousand probably They say it is very thriving— of course, for the Irish thrive every wheie except at home. in Buenos Ayres there is one of the most flourishing bodies of the Gaelic League in existence. The first Irish settlement in Argentina was romantic to an usual degree, and the story ought to be utilised some time by that future novelist who shall write a great prose epic of the oppression and final dispersion of the Trish race over the earth In the early part of the last ccnturv a crew of Algerian pirates, off the coast of Cork, kidnapped two young Irish fishermen. The captives were treated well and remained some time with the freebooters !• >nnllv they escaped at Buenos Ayres and disappeared into the interior, where they took up sheep fanning, and prospered When, some years later, their relatives in Ireland learned of the location of the two men, quite a number of Irish people went out to join them as settlers