IRISH NEWS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLV, Issue 36, 5 September 1918, Page 39

IRISH NEWS

mmmw GENERAL. m. mm At the end of June -the Irish National Defence Fund ; amounted to £248,000. rj : V., f C : Fifty boxes containing 50cwt of silver coin arrived in June-- in Dublin from the Mint The i shortage of silver still continues, but in- a modified degree. .*. , - < | In the East Cavan election, .which resulted in the | return of Mr. Arthur Griffith, the Sinn Fein candidate, by a large majority,- Mr. O’Hanlon, the Party candidate, is said to have. polled 800 Unionist ,votes.:, | The services of about 100 employees of the Nepftune Iron Works, Waterford, have been discontinued i owing, it is stated, to the impending termination of a '.contract with the Ministry of Munitions? Several reductions made by the Ministry, it is reported, have ; brought the price for the turn-out down to a figure - that is .not workable at the concern. On Friday (states the Cork Weekly Examiner, of ' June 29) the Cork Corporation placed on the Roll of , the Freemen of Cork the name of the Very Rev. Father r Thomas, O.S.F.C. The honor was conferred in recognition of his splendid services .to the -city in his successful mediation in the frequent labor disputes since the start of the war. Those, present on the occasion were Lord Mayor Butterfield, the City High Sheriff (Mr. W. F. O’Connor), the Town Clerk' (Mr. F. McCarthy), Mr, W. Hegarty (secretary to the Lord Mayor), and Messrs. M. Egan, T.C., and P. 11. Curtis, T.C.

THE NEW IRISH GOVERNMENT; OMINOUS CHANGES. Speaking in the House of Lords on Irish affairs on June 20, Lord Wimborne, the ex-Viceroy, said : “Amid the confusion of events one fact which stood out was the change in the personnel of the Irish Executive. That change was not confined to the offices of the Lord Lieutenant and the Chief Secretary. It included the Lord Chancellor,, the Lord Chief Justice, the Commander of the Forces, and other functionaries, great and small, down to the posts of colonels and private secretaries. As far as could be seen these changes had removed from the Irish Government all, or nearly all, who sympathised with Irish nationality or who professed the Catholic Faith. The change had been so sweeping and so dramatic that 4 one might well ask, ‘What does it portend?’”

CURZON’S LIE; PROTESTS BY CARDINAL LOGUE AND DR. FOGARTY. Cardinal Logue states that the Irish bishops’ declaration on conscription gave “no foundation for Lord Curzon’s outrageous statement,” in which the latter said in the House of Lords that “the Catholic clergy had advised their flocks under the penalty of eternal damnation to resist conscription.” The Cardinal says: ‘iSo far as the bishops of Ireland, are concerned there is not a word of truth in the statement reported in the speech .of Lord Curzon. What the bishops said was published; and certainly, that gave no foundation for Lord Curzon’s outrageous statement.’’ What the bishops actually said was: “In view especially of the historic relations betweeen the two countries from the very beginning up to the present moment we consider that conscription forced in this way upon Ireland is an oppressive and inhuman law, which the Irish people have a right to resist by all the means that are consonant with the law of God.’’ Most Rev. Dr. Fogarty, addressing the Limerick archconfraternity, and referring to the Curzon calumny said the noble lord must have known .that the Irish . bishops would put no such insult' on Catholic intelligence. Lord Curzon’s very insulting remark was a vulgar falsehood, unworthy of hie rank and the high place he held before tire world. “ Conscription had failed in Ireland because it had met in the Catholic heart of the nation a spiritual force that had proved too strong for it, v ' : "V v - ■ * _ - - • 'MS Sir' / L . .V - •

DR. FOGARTY AND, THE f SECRET OF 1 IRE..T : yLNDS■ STRENGTH. -V? :' -• The closing ceremonies of the Holy Family Confraternity ? Jubilee at Limerick, to ~ which Cardinal Logue sent f a message of : sympathy and ' encouragement, took place on - June : 23 aid■ impressive scenes of devotion. ' Preaching the final,address^ the Most Rev. Dr. Fogarty said that-a modern sensualist from across, the water would marvel at ’.the-great' gathering and enthusiasm, for f they had brought" home no spoil of war; but in Limerick’s eyes they were marching in the armor of God. '' There they saw the two standards, one measuring life by the ideals of Christ, and the other by the rule of mammon. .Limerick, esteemed the excelling knowledge of Christ above ill-gotten . wealth. The Chi istian ideals which lived on in .Ireland once pervaded Europe, but Europe had sunk in sensualism till the great war burst on her. Were the spirit of Christ, as fostered by such institutions, as the confraternity, recognised the war would never have happened: or, again, .it would end to-morrow. / One thing was -now 1 evealed : that spiritual grace is more valuable -than riches, more powerful than the biggest guns. S That civilisation which scorned the Catholic ages as the dark ages was now itself revealed as a savage beneath the cloak. One of the greatest curses of modern European life was conscription. It was the greatest of possible outrages on. the dignity of mail and his God-given right to the disposal of his own life. 1 All Europe groaned under this worst of slavery, but .part of Europe dared stand against it save Catholic Ireland. Apparently helpless, without a weapon, she confronted the horrid thing with a heart of Christian fortitude’ and determined to die rather, than submit. And behold, that Catholic heart had proved more powerful than any battery, and the sling of David had not lost its force. They should thank the confraternity for preserving this spirituality in the people, more precious than all the factories of England. • •• ■% -• •

the IRISH DEPORTATIONS: LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK. The Bishop of Limerick wrote as follows to a'meeting held at Limerick on June 16 to protest against the imprisonment without trial of Mr. E. de Valera, M.P., and his friends: — “Though L cannot be at your meeting on Sunday evening I am in .agreement. with the resolution to be proposed,, as it r is .‘condemning the i ecent arrests and deportation of our-fellow-country-men.” Nothing that I have heard or read of in modern times of the exercise of autocratic power by ’Kaisers• or Czars has exceeded in despotic-tyranny- the treatment of these men and women by the pseudo democrat Mr. Lloyd George and his Government. The leaders of an open., above-board political movement in Ireland are arraigned before the whole world for being involved in a plot with Germany. They are arrested, exiled, and imprisoned, and that without a scrap of evidence, the benefit of a trial, or a legal sentence. We may safely conclude that the German-Irish plot is a bogus one. There is, however, perhaps a real plot on foot; and that is a British Government one against the only political movement in Ireland which-it .fears. Sinn Fein is evidently on the right road to the freedom and independence of Ireland, and hence . the action of the Government. The . plot seems to be. to deprive Sinn Fein of the benefit of the guidance of its prudent and trusted leaders. Will the present leaders of Sinn Fein fall into the trap ? Let us hope no‘t. Anybody who advises either course is not a friend, but. an enemy, of Ireland, and is playing into the hands of her enemies. Salvation will not come to Erin in either of these'ways. Let the people be prudent and patient, resolute: and true to one another, and victory will be theirs. Let them continue to place their trust in the loving Providence of God, and the. powerful intercession of His Immaculate Mother, and they will not be.disappointed. Dark as the clouds seem that hang over our country at present, personally I am convinced' that out of the confusion and chaos of this, present world-war will come the resurrection of Ireland. *Denis Hallinan, Bishop of Limerick.’* - " ■ ; ' 1