The Sun.
London, England, 1836-07-25 00:00:00

PEOPLE of GREAT

LETTER 111.
" JUSTICE-JUSTICE FOR IRELAND."
" Would that mine enemy would write—a letter."
•
It is one of the most sacred of my duties toara
expose to
the honest and reflectinf, pco le o G Britain the gigan-
tic and multitudinous 'abuse's off thereat Irish Church Esta-
blishment.
I have done this sometimes by taking the entire in one
v".—by pointing out the contrast between the small num-
ber of Protestants belonging to that Establishment, and the
• Multitude of Catholics and Presbyterians who are com-
pelled to contribute to its gorgeous and bloated wealth
Without deriving any benefit from them. I showed that
the Church Protestants were less than seven hundred thou-
sand in number, and the Catholics, Presbyterians, and
other Dissenters near seven millions and a half. In parti-
cular, I. more than once pointed out that the Catholics
alone were about six millions and a half—whilst all the
Protestants, of all sects and persuasions, were not more
than fifteen hundred thousand : thus, after deducting from
the Catholics man for man for all the Protestants, there
remains a clear balance of Catholics to no less an amount
than five millions !! and I have then submitted—respect-
fully submitted—to the good sense and good feeling of the
jrational people of Great Britain, whether they would not
oin us in insisting that so enormous a nuisance should be
abated, and so useless as well as insulting an injustice ter-
minated ?
At other times I have endeavoured to attract attention
to some one fact taken from amidst a multitude. My
struggle then has been to concentrate the public mind upon
some one flagrant instance of individual injustice—to make
Palpable the iniquity of the system by showing its atrocious
spoliation of individual property, and by confining attention
to a single point, to enable each person to form a judgment,
at one view, of the vicious working of an Establishment
which displays such gross violation of every principle of
common sense and common honesty.
These were the motives which induced me to state to
the British people my own case—my personal grievance.
I stated that case as contained in the
following proposi-
tions, which I now put in numerical order, for a reason
which will soon be perfectly apparent to every reader of
this letter.

These arc the propositions which constituted "my own
case." I asserted them thus : I asserted—
First—That the population of the parish in which my
country residence is situated, called Kilcrohane, extends in
length seventeen miles, in breadth from three to four.
Second—That there are 10,154 inhabitants of the parish,
of whom 9,990 are Catholics, and only 164 Protestants.
Third—That of these Protestants, eighty-seven are coast-
guards and police, and their families persons casually and
Only temporarily in the parish. The regular Protestant
parishioners being only seventy•seven.
Fourth—That the Rev. Mr. Longfield was rector of this
Parish for the last ten or twelve years, and I believed he
was not as many days in the parish.
Fifth—That he never did me any service whatsoever.
Sixth—ghat he once left his usual residence (which I
stated thus, at Bath or Cheltenham), and came to Kerry to
an election, for the purpose of voting against me.
Seventh—That the composition for tithes out of the pa-
rish amounts to 5001., or thereabouts. It will be well to
recollect the very wors.
Eighth—That there are two parishes, according to the
Catholic division, in Kilcrohane.
Ninth—That we, the Catholics, suppert cheerfully the
Catholic clergymen of both parishes.
Tenth—That I, as a Catholic, have had to support my
ovvn clergyman, to build my own church, and to keep it in
repair.
Eleventh—That the parish is poor, and therefore the
principal part of these burdens falls upon mo individually.
hi
Twelfth—That this parson insists, that in addition I shall
Pay m 50. T hat
year for tithes, and because I deem that
highly unjust—
Thirteenth—He files a bill against me, and hands me
over to a voracious attorney to mulct me in heavy costs.
Fourteenth—That he alleges his religion, which stimu-
lates him to, and sanctions, this gross and palpable injustice,
is
lie betterve than mine, which is just what I cannot and do not
be.
Fifteenth—That he has also three or four glebes in addi-
tion to his tithe composition.
Sixteenth That these tithes were instituted, and these
glebes set apart, not by Protestants for Protestants, but by
Catholics for Catholic worship. They were ours. We as-
signed them for our purposes—the purposes of the 9,990
Catholics.
Seventeenth—That the force of law, or rather the law
of force, had unjustly torn this property from the 9,990
Catholics and given it to the 164, or rather to the seventy-
seven, Protestants.
I called this a
• • I ask
igantic a multitudinous injustice.
you, honest ands conside'rate Englishmen, whether, upon
it istaiernent, I was not right, perfectly right, in so calling
? Can anything under the sun exist more plainly, more
Palpably unjust ? L I should add, is there, under the sun,
i
any country where such iniquity is practised, save only in
net
dolatld
.? Nay, so true is this, that even the Pagan Turks
Inflict
tin any such oppression on the wretched Chris-
ns within their dominions.
Britons ! there is but one government on the face of the
globe which commits such injustice. That is the British
?f government in Ireland. There is but one sect on the face
the globe which perpetrates such injustice on the be-
lievers in another tablished Church in Irelcreed—and that is the Protestant Es-
and.
There are but one people under the heaven compelled to
endure such
multiplied iniquity and oppression, and these
are' alas ! the Catholic people of Ireland.
ScThese facts are calculated to make a deep impression
one
n the reasonable and reasoning people of England and
;4tl. The British people, eminent in their love for
I.ir Play and justice, naturally recoil at such exhibitions of
ishonesty and cruel spoliation.
But, in
order to divert attention from the powerful facts
thus stated, this Rev. Mr. Longfield has come forward and
hhoepublished a. letter,
suav which I will now lay before you. Be-
s• " ine p
ityoli!shed specimen of clerical meekness and Chris-
"n TO THE EDITOR or THE CORK CONSTITUTION.
Of. " SIR—I have seen in your paper a letter to the people
England, in which my name is introduced. If it were
addressed to the people of Ireland I should not take the
trouble of contradicting the false assertions in it, which the
ewrientry ter calls facts, as his facts are too well known in this
,• but in this (as I state it) apology for not paying
his debts to me, though, as I could prove, he has paid other
clergymen when it was his interest, there is hardly one fact,
except, indeed, it may be true that he will not pay me.
8 "AS tO my residirw in Bath or Cheltenham, I never
41)41'4' a day in either,'but have resided in another parish, officiated without a curate for 38 years, and never
82e," as much as one month out of it. So much for this
irlisciti,ird as to the tithe compoiition in Mr. O'Connell's pa-
but 25ei87 500/., it is little more than half that surn, being
knows
As to the number of days I spent in the parish, he
ehurwsi nothing ; but when I got the parish there was neither
all
threee ), clergyman, nor glebe-house in it. Now there are
no/• - As to the glebes, there is one for which I pay
meheor 20 bad acres on which the glebe-house stands—the
rant bel°nging to the parish being a mountain at the re-
paid, end of it, of little value ; and if the curate is badly
his t'• the charge comes badly from a man who has not paid
tithes these four years.

"WI am, Sir, your obedient servant,
`` Church- hill, county of Cork." "M. L ONG FIE L D.
`Church-
plainly this letter denotes " the disposition to be
seurrlous without the talent to be severe."
But my object is not to
point out the total absence of all
that courtesy which should belong to the class it which
°'
theis .R everet,d (!) person should mix, or the odious image
seats
ulgar and uncultivated mind which his very style pro-
tl; N° ; quite otherwise. I easily forgive him the bm-
-11-"tY of his phraseology, because it will be seen that whilst
truthe attempts to contradict my statement, be in fact and in
corroborates and strengthens the case of iniquity and
Unjust oppression which I complain of.
T.reall your attention particularly to these points :
-tie does not deny my statement of
.the extent of the
Darib, or of the population of the parish ; the important
and
is not controverted THAT there are 9,990 Catholics,
1,--114 only 77 resident Protestants ; neither does he deny
HAT all the tithe composition payable by the 9,990 Ca-
tholics
he disputes to the clergyman of the 77 Protestants, though
the amount—how disreputably
,will be he disputes it
seen presently. He does not dare to deny THAT he
fll4B three or four glebes, though he prevaricates upon that
r,°in,t• He does not deny THAT he has not been ten days
Zent„" the Parish durino• ten years ; nay, he confirms that state-
• He does not deny my allegation THAT he never did
.'e env service of any kind. He does not deny THAT he
u.,,nee left his usual residence to come to the county of
Aer •
4t Derr
„:11in which this parish is situate, to vote against
.me
election, though he equivocates upon this
1: does Slot deny THAT there are two parishes accord-
point.
s,.g to the Catholic division, and that the Catholics
4ZrurePpo_rt their own clergymen for LbPse two parishes.
12fl.ndoes 710 t deny THAT the parish Laing poor, the
;:, eiP_al burden of supporting a Catholic elqvgymaa,
iiis of building and keeping in repair a Catholic church,
demands°lt me, He does not deny THAT lie, in addition,
7._._ of me 50/. a year for him who never did me any
?a ,710 ;sand who came A journey expressly to injure me.
does not deny THAT, t 6 enforce this most unchristian
aver demand,
be
has filed a bill agal • •and handed the
against ,nf.;
to a voracious attorney to mulct me in lip,iYY costs.
rii...e,
edsoe: not venture to deny THAT these tithes and these
_'e ere instituted and set apart by Catholics for Ca-
utnt wrsliip, and forcibly seized upon by a few Pro-