Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-07

of the peasantry from the homes they hay
loved so dearly, combined with the unjus
arbitramens Of the local courts of law, ar
heavy, and, in the minds Of the lower orde
of the Irish people, very effective accusation
against the justice Of English rule. Tn
| peasanfry are in wretched condition: NOR
miserable than the aboriginees of Nortl
America A landlord can refuse to grant
lease to the tenant whose forefathers for gen
erations have resided on the patch OF land
improved though it may be by the labors o
a hundred years. The miserable Irish cot
tier is compelled to vote perforce as hi
landlord directs, year after year, in order 3,
retain the howell which shelters his wife anC
children from the elements. He must hav,
more than the average share of Irish reclz
lessness who dares 10 differ with his LANDLORD
| as to the question Of whom he shall return
to Parliament. Manhood is crushed in the
effort to reconcile the right ofconscience and
free opinion, with proper regard for the
safety of worldly property. The crowded
4 docks and quays of the Irish and English
| seaports bear evidence to the dislike with
which Irishmen regard the onerous and un-
! just system of landlordism, and the accom-
panying evil-eviction.
| Wiryie Purigl,ss ere danppulated and made
deserts of to accomplish the wishes u cruel
and merciless landlords. The system OF
| landlordism has given to the Irish people an
unstable and dependent character, which the
| atmosphere of free land often fails to erad-
icate. The people have borne with this sys-
TEN, fearing to accept the alternative of ex-
patriation or banishment, and as a natural
consequence we have Fenian conspiracies
and wretched attempts at revolution, result
ing hitherto in failures of the most disas-
trous and demoralizing influences. Then
there are the questions of education and the
pampered church establishment to add fuel
to the fame, and keep the caldron rolling
When compelled by the sheer force of agita-
ton, the English government is gracious
enough to throw a sop to Cerberus in the
shape of subsidy to some institution like
Maynooth, or in the repeal of some trifing
local enactment, which is not intended in
any way to ameliorate the condition of the
people at large. All small favors of this
kind are heralded forth as acts of Justice to
the Irish people by the English press; while
the fact is concealed that they are forcedfrom
Parliament by half score of Irish members
who may be lucky enough at the time to
hold the balance Of power, which, if disre-
garded, would probably result in the down.
fall of the party in power.
ALIENATION OF THE PEOPLE FROM THE
PRIESTHOOD.
In the short space of two years the most
radical and startling changes have been
worked in the relations of the people to the
priesthood. The change has been wrought
by the dissemination of Fenian doctrines.
For 600 years the priests and people of Ire
land have been connected by the most in
dissoluble ties Of affection and endearment,
the result of persecution and mutual suffer-
ings sPriests led the ragged rebel cohorts
at Vinegar Hill in 1898, and until the es-
tablishment of the Maynooth College for the
education of Irish priests, the faintest whis-
per of distrust never had existed between
the priests and people. The unity between
lay and cleric did not suit the English gov
ernment and a college was established for
the education of Irish priests at Maynooth,
near Dublin, for the support of which insti-
tuition the sum of 100000 is voted annually
by the British Parliament. Under the old
penal laws, young men who wished to enter
the Catholic Church as priests were
compelled to seek for the preparatory
education necessary for the ministry at |
the Continental Universities, Salaman-
ca and Paris, Louvain, Rome and |
various other continental Catholic universi- |
ties educated the men who were designed for |
the ministry in Ireland. On arriving in |
Ireland, by stealth, it being penal ofiense |
to harbor priest within the bounds of the |
United Kingdom, they had to perform their |
sacred offices in secluded nooks, mountain |
Businesses, and caves. Like wild beasts they |
were hunted by the government officials, a
price being set on every priests head, amount
ing to $50. But the people never betrayed
their pastors, and it is creditable to the loyal
feelings of the Irish people that the crime of
on priest was not heard of once |
in a century. Certainly such conduct as
this deserved return, and the confidence
was returned by the foreign priests who
placed their lives in the hands of the people.
The Maynooth College was established at
he instigation of some of the Irish Catholic
bishops, and in return for the subsidy of ESQ.,
300 granted to the college, every graduate,
before entering on his course, was forced to
,oke the following oath to support the Eng
ish government, precluding all possibility
If loyal adhesion to his own countrymen:
OATH OF A MAYNooTH STUDENT.
/, N. n, do take Almighty God, and His
Holy Son, Jesus Christ, to witness that L
will be faithful and bear true allegiance to
her most gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria,
md her will defend to the utmost of my
power from all conspiracies and attempts
whatever that shall be made against her per-
ION, crown, or dignity. And will do my ut
most endeavor to dissolve and make known
o her Majesty and successors, all reasonable
md treacherous conspiracies which may be
ormed against her or them. And do promise
o maintain, support, and defend, to the ut
most of my power, the succession of the
.rown in her Majesty's family.
And do swear that | will defend to the
Utmost of my power the settlement and ar
angement of property in this country estab-
ished by law now in being. do truly de-
line, disavow, and entirely abjure, any in
ention to subvert the present Church Estab-
for the purpose of substituting a
Jatholic Establishment in its stead. And |
10 solemnly swear that will not exercise
my privilege to which / am or may
,eeome entitled, to disturb and weaken
he Established Religion and Protestant
government in this country. And / do SOL
mnly, in the presence of God and His Holy
Jon Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, profess, tes-
ify and declare, that / do make this decla-
alton and every part thereof, in the plain
nd ordinary sense of the words, without any
vasive equivocation or mental reservation
vhatever, and without any dispensation
hatever, already granted by the Pope, or
ny authority of the See of Rome, or any
,ower whatever and without thinking that
am or can be acquitted before God or man,
r absolved by this declaration or any part
f ii; although the Pope, or any person or
uthority whatever, dispense with and annul
he same, or declare that il was null and
old from the beginning. So help me God.
The Fenians had no sooner gained an in
uence on the minds Of the Irish people than
was asserted by them that this oath and
ubsidy was evidently crushing out all hopes
f homogeneous priesthood and people
gainst the false lures of England. The
tIsh Peeple thundered in fiery editorials
gainst the clergymen for taking the oath,
nd bitter retorts and recriminations follow
d, causing a breach for the first time be-
ween priests and people. The priesthood
ttacked Fenianism first as a secret society
aving demoralizing influences, and tending
Y the inculcation Of its doctrines, to over
brow and subvert the lawful authority of
he English government. The rites of the
hurch were refused to all members Of the
r. B. who did not renounce the pernieious
octrine of FeniaSism. In one case In the
)ounty Of Cork young Fenian who was on