O'Di'iscoVi Vitws of Ireland. 



683 



principle, and set common sense at defi- 

 ance; but tliis can be done no longer; 

 and it will be well if some remedy can 

 be devised for tbis inveterate disease, 

 which tineatens to devour the ( burcb. 



We have one word to say upon 

 the subject of church rates. This is 

 frequently a very severe tax, and it is 

 one levied upon the public of the 

 Roman Catholic communion in a very 

 unjustifiable manner. Is a new church 

 to be built,— who is to determine whetlier 

 the old one is insufficient, or a new one 

 necessary ? Perhaps there are no Pro- 

 testants in tlie parish. — Whosoever is 

 to determine this point, the Catholics 

 are to pay for building the church, if it 

 be to be built. Funds are easily ob- 

 tained from the Board of First-Fruits ; 

 but the Eoard must be repaid : this is 

 done by a tax levied on the parisii, for, 

 perhaps, twenty years after. This is a 

 heavy tax, without representation, and 

 in which tiie people have no choice. 

 What becomes in this case of the 

 argument about nolice ? Did the farmer 

 know, when he took bis farm and 

 calculated his rent, liiat lie should have 

 to pay this extravagant tax during, 

 perhaps, tiie whole of his term ? Is it 

 right, that a whole parish should be 

 taxed to build a church for, possibly, 

 two or three individuals? — that the 

 poor should build places of worship 

 for the rich, in order that these may 

 pray commodiously and at free cost, 

 while the impoverished peasantry wor- 

 ship in buildings resembling barns? 

 Surely the established church of Ire- 

 land, the richest chuicli in Europe, 

 might afford to relieve the poor of the 

 Roman Catholic persuasion from this 

 infliction ! It is not right that Catho- 

 lics should be compelled to build 

 churches for Protestants. It is not 

 right that those who live upon potatoes 

 and sour milk, should be called on to 

 build elegant churches for those who 

 fare sumptuously and drink wine every 

 day. 



THE CHUKCH OF ROME IN IRELAND. 



Ireland is the only country which 

 presents us with the singular spectacle 

 of two great and perfect national church 

 establishments; an establiKhment for 

 the rich, and an establishment for the 

 poor. 'I'hcre are some poor Pro- 

 testants and some rich Koman Catho- 

 lics; this, however, is the leading dis- 

 tinction ; but the poor support both 

 establishments. 



Never was there a priosthood sup- 

 plied with such abundant and mighty 

 2 



means, for operating whatever efiFect 

 they might think proper upon the 

 people. What have lliey accom- 

 plislied! 



We might answer this question, by 

 drawing a picture of the Irish peasantry ; 

 ferocious, artful, idle, sanguinary. We 

 might point to a long list of dread 

 enormities, — we might exhibit their 

 fierce feuds, and rustic and deadly 

 enmities ; their vengeance appeased 

 with blood only, — their deceitfulness, 

 except only in those compacts where 

 the laws are to be violated, and crimes 

 are to be perpetrated, — and, when we 

 had drawn such a picture, we would 

 ask, what has been the working of the 

 two establishments in Ireland ? Have 

 these people been really Christianized 

 by the expensive machinery ostensibly 

 applied for this purpose? 



And when it is considered, also, that 

 the natural qualities of the Irish 

 peasantry are uncommonly fine ; that 

 Ihey are kind, affectionate, zealou», 

 devoted, generous, faithful, intelligent, 

 and brave; we shall be called to mourn 

 over ruins more melancholy than those 

 of Palmyra. It is true, that many 

 of the excesses of this people can be 

 traced to the pressure of various 

 calamities with whicli the |)riesthood 

 are no way concerned ; and that, 

 perhaps, hardly Huy knowledge of their 

 duties would wholly restrain the vio- 

 lence which flows from these sources. 



The religion of this people is, for the 

 most part, a kind of fatalism ; they 

 tell you of their crimes and their cala- 

 mities, — that it was before them to 

 commit and endure, and they could 

 not escape it. How could they con- 

 tend with fate? It was appointed for 

 them to do and to suffer, and they have 

 but accomplished their destiny; they 

 confess tliat this is not the language 

 of the priest, but it is nevertheless true; 

 the priests, they admit, know every 

 thing, but then they tell them only 

 what tlu-y judge proper. 



In Ireland, the servant, who will rob 

 you without compunction, will rather 

 be without food than eat flesh-meat on 

 fast days, 'i'he poor fem:ile outcast of 

 the street, lost in vice and abandon- 

 ment, is a punctual observer of the 

 numerous festivals of her church. There 

 are many who, if they were without 

 these meatis of .self-delusion, would 

 still cling to their vices in open defianco 

 of conviction, but a great number 

 would abandon them in horror of their 

 deformity, when dragged from every 



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