Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 4 May 1911, Page 823

Irish News

ANTRIM— Destruction of a Mill : >V On Sunday morning, March, 12, an outbreak of fire occurred in the bleaching mills of Pullan and Co., Mallusc, County Antrim. On the arrival of the fire brigade from Belfast it was found that the whole of the extensive premises were ablaze, and the inflammable nature of the contents made it impossible for anything to be saved. - At midday the building was completely gutted ARMAGH—The Temperance Cause The annual meeting of St. Patrick's Total Abstinence Society was held in the Cathedral after Vespers on Sunday night, March 12. The occasion being a special one, the Rev. Peter Sheerin, P.P., Crossmaglen, who is doing such splendid work in the cause of Temperance, had been asked to preach. In the course of j his address .he said it was a matter of history how the once powerful empire of Rome 'was destroyed by the drink evil. On the other hand, :: they had an instance not many years ago of a small and practically unknown Power, Japan, overcoming the Russians, because the Japanese were a sober people. Father Sheerin concluded by saying that the Armagh T.A. Society at present numbered about 2000. ' 'Twas good, he said, but there were upwards of 7000 Catholics in the parish. Allowing 2000 for old people and children and 500 for inmates of institutions, still left near 2000 not in the society. The meeting being specially for the annual renewal of the pledge, about 200 new members, along with the old, were enrolled. KlLKENNY—Satisfactory Condition of the County Addressing the Grand Jury at the opening of the Spring Assizes for the County Kilkenny, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland said he was glad to find their county in the same satisfactory condition that he" had found it for many years past. The condition that the County Kilkenny was in, the immunity from crime which it enjoyed, was a credit to the people at large, and it was very satisfactory to a judge of assizes to find such excellent relations prevailing between all classes, between the gentry and the people. FORD—Some Longford Celebrities Very little attention is paid to Longford's beauty spots, for the tourist is more interested in the scenes associated with the genial, gifted Oliver Goldsmith (says a recent visitor to the county). A great deal of controversy has been aroused concerning the exact birthplace of the poet, he being claimed, Homer fashion, by three distinctive communities. The counties of Westmeath, Roscommon, and Leitrim have claimed him for their own, but all doubt must be removed as to the precise place of his nativity by the two brief chronicles of his life and death. The following is an entry taken from the family Bible of the Rev. Charles Goldsmith, father of the poet: Oliver Goldsmith was born at Pallas, Nov. 5 ye 10th, 1731.' In the epitaph composed by Goldsmith's friend, the celebrated Dr. Johnson, and placed on the poet's monument in Westminster Abbey, we find the words: ' Natus in Hibernia, Forniae Longfordiensis, in loco nomen Pallas.' 1 The principal events of Goldsmith's life are too well known for me to rehearse them. He received his early education at the hands of the village schoolmaster, Thomas Byrnes. Goldsmith left the village of Auburn for a school at Athlone and was transferred from there to Edgeworthstown. He was finally sent to Trinity College, Dublin, when he was sixteen years of age. But Babylon' lured him, as it has lured hundreds of other gifted Irishmen, and he endured agony of spirit and suffered repeated degradations. . Oliver Goldsmith has been accorded an honored place by the Supreme Court in the Republic of Letters, and from whose decision there can be no appeal. It would, indeed, be a strange assortment of 100 best books or an ill-constructed price-foot library that did not include Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. When the simple-minded and noble-hearted Vicar is cast into prison he designs forms of industry and systems of reward for the benefit of his fellow-prisoners, _ outlining a scheme that has since grown to giant proportions—the movement of prison reform. The Vicar of Wakefield skilfully concealed a purpose no less noble than that contained in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Goldsmith adorned whatever he touched. His other well known works are -: The Traveller, a descriptive poem of great power of ; observation and contrast; the comedies The Good-natured Man and She Stoops to Conquer. His characters appear like real personages, such was his gift of individual delineation. The world is immensely the richer that Oliver Goldsmith lived in it. He was a lovable character. He numbered among his best friends at the club, Johnson, Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Garrick, Beauclerc, Charlemont and Flood. On receipt of the news of Goldsmith's death the dignified and majestic Burke burst into tears; Reynolds 'abandoned his studio, unable to work — ail his associates Were as affected as if they had lost their most immediate relative. Another great Longford writer was Miss Maria Edgeworth. She was a most voluminous writer. Her best known novels are Castle Hackrent and The Absentee. Sir Walter Scott publicly admitted that he was inspired

to write his Scottish, novels from the reading of , the Irish tales of Miss Edgeworth. Waverley is written on ■' lines very similar to Castle Itackrent. Miss Edgeworth is one of the few ladies who have been made honorary' members of the Royal Irish Academy. A still more celebrated Longford ;i personage was Henry Essex Edgeworth, known in history as the ' Abbe Edgeworth,' and near relative of the lady novelist. • Henry Edgeworth was educated for the priesthood at the Sorbonne, and became a distinguished ecclesiastic by his talents and nobility of character. ; He was the spiritual adviser of the royal family and confessor to Princess Elizabeth. LOUTHElected Unopposed On March 8 Mr. J. J. Russell, Sub-sheriff, and Mi. Espinasse, legal assessor, sat in the Crown Court of the County Courthouse, Dundalk, to receive nominations for the Parliamentary representation of North Louth. Notwithstanding that it was fair day in Dundalk, comparatively little interest was exhibited in the proceedings, only about a couple of dozen people congregating outside the Courthouse. _ This was no doubt due to the fact of Mr. Healy intimating beforehand that he would not contest the seat at. this election. Shortly before noon Mr. Augustine Roche, ex-M.P. for Cork, the U.I.L. nominee, reached the Courthouse, accompanied by about twenty of his prominent supporters. Mr. Roche was proposed by Mr. P. Hughes, Castlering, and seconded by Mr. William Woods, Carlingford, and there were forty-four other papers handed in on his behalf. No other candidate was proposed, and Mr. Augustine Roche was declared the elected representative for the division. MEATH—Death of a Priest In the diocese of Meath deep regret is felt at the death of Rey. Nicholas Woods, Administrator, Collinstown, which took place in St. Vincent's Private Hospital, Dublin. Father Woods was a native of Drogheda, and had barely reached middle age. TIPPERARY.—Death of an Octogenarian A Home exchange reports the death of Mr. Michael Meagher, who passed away at the residence of his brother, Templemore, in the 83rd year of his age. The deceased was a member of an old and respected family generally known as the Meaghers of Laha,v He was for a period of twenty year relieving officer of the Templemore district of Ihurles Union, but for some six years previous to his death he had been enjoying a well-earned rest on the usual retiring allowance. The late Mr. Meagher was a brother-in-law of Mr. Michael Bohan, of Wellington. The remains were taken for interment to the family burial ground remplemore, after Office and High Mass at Templemore Catholic church. The funeral was of immense proportions, the following being the chief mourners: —Mr. and Mrs Meagher, Rev. M. Meagher, P.P., Old Cunnock, Scotland (nephew); Misses Meagher (nieces), Messrs. R. Meagher U.C., Tempiemore; T. Meagher, D. Meagher, Rataoth, County Meath (nephews), Martin Meagher, sen., Martin Meagher jun., W. Meagher (cousins); Mr. John Meagher. Clerk of Union and Council Thurles. There were also present a number of the clergy and representatives of the District Council and other public bodies. TYRONE—Peaceful and Industrious • ;_ Addressing the Tyrone Grand Jury Mr. Justice Holmes said there were nine bills to go before them, including one which had been returned for trial the previous day. As far as he could gather from the depositions taken before the magistrates, none of them would seem to be serious in their character. They were all such offences as must always occur in a. large county so extensive and so populous as lyrone; and, therefore, the cases were ' very few. 'I have been acquainted with the county from the time of my birth, continued his lordship. 'I was born and lived in it in my early years, and I have visited it from time to time since, and my experience of it is that it is one of the most peaceful and at the same time one of the most industrious counties in Ireland, and I hope it will long maintain that reputation. You know it a great deal better than I do, and I am sure you will agree with me in the character 1 give it. GENERAL Emigration Still Keeps Up . During the month of February the total number of emigrants who left Ireland was 847, as compared with 896 tor the same month in 1910. The number of emigrants tor January and February was 1491, as against 1511 for the corresponding period of last year, a decrease of 20. Mixed Marriages in Ireland The political origin of the agitation on the mixed marriage question's undeniable (remarks the Catholic limes). It is probably because writers on the subject -n the press are influenced by political motives and desire to keep up the agitation for tho present that they wander into so many absurdities It is hopeless to try to enlighten them, for manifestly they do not wish to receive enlightenment. But it may be well to remind them that it is not so long since the law of the land imposed severe penalties on Catholic priests who officiated at marriages between

Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. As the Freeman's Journal points out, by 12 Geo. 1., c. 3 —' an Act to prevent marriages by Popish priests'—the Catholic priest who married a Catholic and a Protestant was rendered liable to the capital punishment. All such marriages were declared null and void by 19 Geo. 11., c, 13, and by an Act passed in the reign of George 111., a Catholic priest who celebrated a marriage between Protestants or between a person professing to be a Protestant within twelve months before such celebration and a Catholic, unless such persons had been previously married by a Protestant clergyman, became liable to a penalty of five hundred pounds. When Queen Victoria was in the fifth year of her reign, instead of the death penalty for the celebration, by a Catholic priest of a marriage between a Catholic and a Protestant, transportation for seven years was substituted, and it was not till 1870 that the Catholic priests were entirely free from the disability. And yet the agitators coolly talk of Catholic intolerance!

The Parliamentary Fund To-day we (Weekly Freeman of March 18) publish the first list of subscriptions to the Irish National Fund for 1911. It presents a magnificent and prompt response to the appeal of the National Trustees. Its total reaches well over two thousand pounds, and furnishes an excellent augury for the realisation of the hope that this year's collection may be a record one. The character of the list is even more noteworthy than its total amount. Gratifying as is the staunch and steady patriotism evidenced in the large subscriptions, it is the multitude of small subscribers, from all parts of the country, that establish most conclusively the representative basis of the Irish Party. The five hundred pounds contributed by the United Irish League of Great Britain is made up, as the detailed list shows, almost entirety of small sums; and in addition to this we find, dotted over the long columns, the donations of individual Irishmen scattered from Banff to Surrey. No calumny of faction has ever shaken the fidelity of these exiles; their appearance in the opening list of 1911 is worthy of their record. The home contributions include the names of thirty out of ■ thirty-two counties of Ireland. Here is the secret of the Irish Party's strength; here is the test, hardly second to the ballot-box test itself, of the authority with which Mr. Redmond and his colleagues speak for a united and determined Ireland. Derry City heads the list with £l4O, all in small sums; and East Tyrone, with £IOO subscription, helps to explode the audacious Unionist claim to a' solid Ulster. All the southern counties are well represented; Sligo, Down, Clare, Tipperary, Dublin, recur as one rapidly glances down the list. Specially satisfactory are the prompt and generous contributions from districts which, like Birr and New Ross, have been recently challenged by the opponents of the Irish Party. Faction has served as a tonic, bracing the nerve of Nationalism to energetic continuance in the fight. It is hoist with its own petard.

An Obstacle in the Way The whole British Progressive Party, both Liberal and Labor, is united in favor of Sir Edward Grey's idea (says the London Morning Leader). But there is one party which has a special interest and a special power in this matter. The Irish Party are quite frank in their statement that it would be impossible for us to obtain this American Alliance without the grant of Home Rule to Ireland. The Irish vote in America has hitherto stood implacably in the way of an understanding between the two countries. . But now that Home Rule is in sight the Irish vote is softening towards Great Britain. Some of us can still remember the pilgrimage of passion which Michael Davitt carried into the United States when last arbitration was proposed, and how that one-armed Irish peasant succeeded in thwarting the schemes of all the statesmen and diplomats by turning the whole American Senate against our arbitration proposals. Thanks to the fact that this time the policy is in the hands of a Liberal Home Rule Government, the Irish do not propose for the moment to launch a hostile campaign against Sir Edward Grey's policy. But they are absolutely firm and clear in pointing out that the policy can only be brought to victory as an accompaniment to the grant of Home Rule. There can be absolutely no doubt that they have sufficient power and influence in the United States to achieve that design. But is there not a special advantage in this fact ? Will not the aim of an American alliance still further ease and soften the grant of Home Rule to the English people? Surely it is one of the brightest prospects of the coming two years that we should be able to carry out both these policies together, and achieve in the end a triple friendship between three great races divided so often by ancient strifes and misunderstandings, but now to stand together before the world on behalf of peace. That is a great dream, and if Sir Edward Grey can carry it out he will deserve to be regarded as the greatest of modern British Foreign Ministers.