The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-05-07 00:00:00

INSPECTION OF CONVENTS.

Thomas Eyre, Eq., Ex-High Sheriff, County Kil-
kenny, has sent the following letter to The Tinics for
publioation
' ' '

-
The deep and earnest feeling roused by Mr. Newdegate's
propoaed inquiry into conventual imtituttna if not allayed
may easily kindie into a II .me, which may, to the grief of
all true lovers of liberty, rage for years befole it is extin-
guished.
This danger, great even in England, is infinitely greater and
more imminent in Ireland, where given, as in this case. an
excitable nation, a substantial grievance, and that a religous
one, you have every element necessary to stir up the passions
and kindle the animosity of the people. But if this excite-
ment now rising were merely an outburst of sudden and
impuldve feeling, we might hope that it might in time die
away; hut beyond the "tall talk" which it Is often polite and
even prudent to ignore, there is in this inst.nce an un-
dercurrent of quiet and firm resolve which it is impossible to
! doubt, and may te unsafe to disregard. In England the
! Catholics are weak, but in Ireland they are strong, and will
absolutely ref it, to submit to he insulted : and it is because
I see this determination unmistakably manifesting itself that
I veldure on there few lines of warning.
I am English, but have also property In Ireland, where I
have Yoe. in the habit if resoling. Having been lately High
Sheriff of my county, and thus been brought into contact
with all sorts of people I have good and abundant means at
hand or forming an opinion on the present crisis ; and there
can be no doubt that the state of England at this moment is
highly dangerous.
.' " -

Mr. - ewoegate stated "this was no Irish question, but an
Eaglish and Scatch ipestion Bow far th a is correct a
cursory examination will suttee to show. I will not enter into
the details folly stated in the declaration by the Catholics of
Great Britain recently pu'dished ; hut It is evident that, ex-
cluding the question of the inexpediency of enforcing the
couch,lon. the arguments in f Avner of the comae protested
against in that document stand good Sr all three portions
the United Kingdom, and tell strongly in proportion to the
number of objectionable associations existing to the country.
It is further a matter of fact that • great num tier of the in-
mates of the convents find monasteries in England are Irish
by birth or descent
But more than this, it is plain, and it Is fully admitted in

the kindly written le;ding akicle'on this suhjeci in your paper
of Friday—let. that the spirit and policy, as well as the letter,
of English law is against the existence of these institutions,
which are, and have been from remote antiquity, an invariable
feature of Catholic doctrine and practice ; and, hid, that this
policy is approved and supported by the public opinion of
this country.
This being so, though It was possible to avoid the contsi.
deration of the question so long as the law on this matter
was looked upon as obsolete, is not the fact now brought
forcibly before us by the present proceedings that the laws
of this cenotry are unfitted for the government of a Catholic
nation, anti that just in proportion to the eiugle.ruindedness
and fairness of our rulers, and to their determination toss
cure to all equality before the law, Is this unfitness increased.
111 Ireland, even under the new Coercion Bill, a special
proclamation of a distrltt is requisite before the power of
examining persons where there is slot a specific accusation
of any individual charged can be legitimately exercised.
fully in the care of those relatives of theirs who aim by
profe4sion at a life of exceptiona inriocence, self-oenial,
and self sacrifice is this birthright of a British subject,
jealously euarced in ordinary individuals, summarily ig-
nored. Can we wonder, then, arid is It not right, that
under such circumstances, which may at any time be their
OWII, the Irish should seek protection by endeavouring to
remove themselves from the operation of such laws alto-
gether, rather than trust to the accidental fact of their
having been allowed to lapse into disuse, or to the want of
courage of those who allow " I dare not wait upon I
would." For myself I see no valid answer to such an argu-
ment ; and If, as is slow proposed, a petition for the repeal
of tile legislative union from every parish in Ireland should
he prepared in readiness for presentation to the louse, at
the same time with the report of the contemplated Ben de-
gate committee, how can any Catholic decline to sign it
and how csu the prayer of suck a petition be rejected Ti)
force we English could oppose force—immense, overwhelm-
ing but the demand or a whole nation, just in Its object, and
I firmly, though temperately and constitutionally expressed,
1 Is irresistible. . .

That these matters are in agitation you are probably well
aware. tine great element of strength against extreme views
has hitherto been the Influence of the middle elms, and the
Catholic clergy, both English and Irish, who have by resi-
dence among and long acquaintance with the people ac-
quired their confidence and respect. Has ft suddenly been
found that the friends of the English connexlin are so super-
abundant in Ireland that you can afford to ahenate not Judi-
viduals, but whole classes?
In the hope that these Important considerations may be
duly weighed before it is too late, I place them before the
public through your columns.