530 



The Review of Reviews. 



other result is impossible, and would be intoler- 

 able. We have had enough of the old divisions 

 and their disastrous consequences. 



THAT PERSECUTION. 



But the north-east corner, or rather its spokes- 

 men, profess to fear persecution for religious 

 opinions. Sometimes they talk of the whole 

 Catholic population of Ireland as thirsting for 

 revenge ; at other times, and somewhat incon- 

 sistently, they say that it is not the Catholic 

 laity they fear, but their priests and bishops, 

 and they take up this latter position with the 

 apparent and shameful acquiescence of English 

 Catholic Unionist members of the two Houses 

 of Parliament, who, nevertheless, hold them- 

 selves forth as the special champions of Catholic 

 interests, and especially of his Holiness the 

 Pope ! The English partisans of the Ulster 

 minority, who ought to know better, are not 

 ashamed, if not actually to foster this bogey of 

 persecution, at least to allow it to go forth 

 without rebuke. For example, Mr. Bonar Law, 

 at a Unionist Nonconformist banquet in London 

 on October 26th, while disclaiming the intention 

 to make any attack on Roman Catholics, 

 allowed a certain reverend gentleman who 

 had spoken just before him to say, without 

 reproof, that they might eventually have to 

 " appeal to the Protestant sentiment of the 

 country." I have no doubt that some at least 

 of the Ulster minority do honestly entertain 

 some fear of persecution, while I have at the 

 same time a conviction that their English par- 

 tisans have none. What ground is there for 

 this fear? I answer, confidently, none what- 

 ever. Not to go back into the distant past at 

 all, the whole history of which shows the Irish 

 Catholics to be the most tolerant and forgiving 

 race of human beings on the face of the earth, 

 the history of the recent past is conclusive on 

 the question. Take the most recent case in 

 point, for I have no space for the hundreds of 

 cases which I might cite. Here is a letter which 

 appeared in the Irish newspapers of Octo- 

 ber 26th, to which, obviously, from the very 

 nature of its contents, no answer can be given : 



Listowel (Unionj Rural District, 



23rd day of October, igi2. 

 Dear Sir, — The attention of the Listowel Rural 

 Council having been drawn to a statement you are re- 



ported to have made in Parliament on Monday last, 

 2ist inst.— namely, that for the past twenty years no 

 graduate of Trinity College was appointed to any public 

 position in the South of Ireland, the Listowel Rural 

 Council hereby inform you that that statement is in- 

 accurate as far as their district is concerned. 



(i) The Solicitor to the Rural Council, the late Mr. 

 Francis Creagh, a Protestant, a graduate of Trinity 

 College, and a leading man in the Synod, was appointed 

 by 46 votes to 14 given for Mr. Aioran, a Catholic, in 

 the year iSgg, when the Council came into office. 



(2) Mr. Lancelot G. Creagh, a Protebtant, and 

 graduate of Trinity College, was unanimously appointed 

 Solicitor to the Rural Council in the year 1908. Three 

 other local solicitors, who are Catholics, canvassed for 

 the appointment, but their canvass was hopeless. 



(3) Mr. Walter Thorpe, Limerick, was elected in the 

 year igo3 as against Mr. O'Mahony, of Cork, who is a 

 Catholic. Mr. Walter Thorpe is a Protestant and a 

 graduate of Trinity College. 



(4) The elder of the Cuthbertson brothers, now in the 

 public service, a Protestant, and a student of Trinity 

 College, has been, like his father before him, contractor 

 for the Union printing for years, and the tenders of 

 Catholics were always rejected and preterence given to 



,Mr. Cuthbertson. 



(s) The Rev. Mr. Pattison, a graduate of Trinity 

 College, had his salary unanimously increased by the 

 Listowel Board of Guardians by 50 per cent, in the year 

 1904, without even the reverend gentleman asking for 

 it. 



There are 73 members in Listowel Rural Council — 71 

 Catholics and 2 Protestants. 



The Listowel Ruial Council consider that if a gentle- 

 man of your high position and culture finds it necessary 

 to make public reference to nauseous sectarianism as 

 regards the South, you might occasionally take the 

 trouble to ascertain the real facts, which would in their 

 view have the effect of diminishing the slanders on 

 Catholic representative men in the South. 

 Faithfully yours, 



(Sgd.) M. O'CONNELL, 

 Clerk, Listowel Rural Council. 

 Wm. Moore, Esq., K.C., M.P., 



House of Commons, London. 



I am reminded of other cases just now : — Dr. 

 O'Halloran, M.D., T.C.D., a Protestant, was elected 

 in '98. His opponent was Dr. Behan, a Catholic. Dr. T. 

 Buckley, T.C.D., was this year elected to a position 

 against Dr. Martin, of the Catholic University; and 

 there are at least four other Protestants, though not 

 T.C.D. men, in the service of the Guardians. 



M. O'C. 



Can a similar statement be made of any part 

 of Ulster in which Protestants and Unionists 

 are in a majority? Is there a single such dis- 

 trict in which a single Catholic has been elected 

 to any office of any importance? But fears are, 

 nevertheless, entertained by some Protestants 



