Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-03-18
rHE cArmoLres AND THE FESrANs.
lmportant Debate in the House Of Lords-An
Irish Roman Catholic Church establishment
Recommepded.

Recommended.
; On the 26th, in the House of Lords, Lord
Lihord rose to call attention of the House to
the causes of the present condition of ireland,
and to ask her Maiesty's government wheth-
er IT was their intention to introduce any
measure into Parliament providing for the
support of the Roman Catholic clergy of
that country, Independent of the contribu-
tions Of the people, and also to move for a
return of the parochial clergy of the Roman
Catholic clergy in ireland. The noble Lord
said that on Saturday week Parliamentpassed
bill which placed the liberty Of every man
IN Ireland at the discretion Of the Lord
Lieutenant. 1t would not be fitting on that
occasion 10 make any remark except in ap-
provai OF the conduct of her Majesty's gov
ernment, and of the forbearance, firmness.
and promPtitude of the ord-Lieutenant.
But that bill having become law, he thought
he ought not to lose an early opportunity of
expressing the shame and sorrow which mast
be felt by every peer OF Ireland-shame at
The want of sense shown by a number of
their countrymen, ard their want of ap-
probation Of the first principles of civiIiza-
ton sorrow that those who were now ap-
preaching !" the sere and yellow leaf could
never hope to see Ireland prosperous and in
the condition she should be as an integral
part of this great empire
| Though the act for the suspension of the
hd6eas corpus had passed through their Lord
| ships House almost sub sitentio, it was not
50 in the other House Of Parliament. Up
to Sunday week Ireland was as free as Eng
\ land, while she had a lower franchise and |
| less taxation than this country. 1t could |
not be the tithes which kept down the pop
ulation, because they were not paid by the |
poor. What was il then, drove Irishmen /
out of Ireland, hating the institutions of |
their country, while Englishmen and
Scotchmen went forth without carrying with |
them any such feeling? Why were Irish
men in America banded as Fenians with /
the one sole object of injuring the Queens |
government and degrading this country in
every way possible2 Let them ask " Who
were the Fenians p' About thirty years
ago an Under-Secretary for Ireland laid
down the axiom, property has its duties as
well as It's rights" and within the last
thirty years the greatest efforts had been
made by Irish proprietors to improve their
properties and consequently to better the
condition of the people. In doing so it be-
came necessary to consolidate farms where
the farms were too small and in that pro-
cess of consolidation it was absolutely nec-
NoS1ig W ICtiONc Il STCdJ OF OcCu- /
pants. In addition to this, numbers of the
growing up young men were obliged to go
out to work, instead of depending for their
livelihood on a share of their fathers farm.
Then, owing to capital not being invested in
the country, great number of the Irish
were shipped over to America The per-
sons selected to be sent off were not taken
from among the best characters.
Wherever there was black sheep in the
family-wherever there was a drunken ten
ant-he was sure to be selected Added to
such emigrants were the refugees who had
left Ireland after 1S4S, and from these ele-
ments Fenianism had sprung up. The Fe-
mans in America levied black mail ON their
more industrious countrymen, who, he was
sorry to say, were not as unwilling as they
ought to be to pay it. Who were the Fe-
mans at home? Compared with the popu-
lation, he believed that the sworn Fenians
were not a great many; but he lamented to
think that nearly the entire of the lower |
classes sympathized with them. How was
1t that the Irish, who were now better fed,
better clothed, and better taught than they
used 10 be, were, unlike the people of Can
ada or those of any other country, and were
TO welcome armed invaders, who
endeavored to bribe her Majesty's troops by
tIltlll ldilu tOf In6lr reward, | ,
and women for their prey? The Irish at !
home who sympathized in the Fenian move
ment did not know the real consequences to
themselves of foreign invasion; while they '
believed that if it took place every man Z
would get the fee simple of his own farm
Did noble lords suppose that at the time of
the Reform Bill elections were carried in
the teeth of Irish Landlords solely from the ! c
desire TO give new members to Birmingham 4
and Manchester? There was an ingredient | a
in these elections of which noble lords might I
have heard little, or to which perhaps | I
they had turned deaf ear, and that was S
the hope held out to the Irish population of s
hxity of tenure AT that time every man a
in ireland was induced to think that the | |
land was not the rightful property of the a
owner, who was a sort of usurper, holding | I
by force and not by justice. lv
To persons educated in such belief was t
it wonderful that they should grasp what APP e
peared to them the realization of hope long |
delayed, held out by the great republic of t
He was most unwilling to refer ]
10 these old stories, for the whole basis Of /
lreland's prosperity, if ever she was to be I
prosperous again, must be based on forget d
fnlness and forgiveness of the past. In c
however, for some small excuse n
for his unfortunate and deluded fellow-coun- r
Irymen, if they went to the sources of Ire
and's misery and now of her degradation, S
he must tell their lordships that it was Eng s
and that had sown the wind and now must f
reap the whirlwind ~ t
Parliament would before long be called
On to consider two questions intimately {
with the state of feeling in that a
Irish church and the payment S
Of the Roman Catholic priests The Roman
Catholic priests of late years had done good q
service to the State, and he had already s
'aid that to forgive and forget the past l
ought to be the basis of Ireland's future Il
prosperity. In lS4S the Roman Catholic 6
priests saved the people of Ireland from the P
effects of an absurd but most unfortunate re- a
Dellion. In 1866 the Roman Catholic t;
priests had been doing their best to save the v
people again. During the intermediate t;
years they had labored with diligence to re-
press that phase of Fenianism known as the
Riband conspiracy. If something were done v
o provide payment for the priests out Of the n
parishes an interest would be given them in
he land, the poorest case would, to certain
'xtent, be relieved, and above all a hideous = =
Inomaly would be put an end to.
Land of the value OF G220,000 a U
rear would give l064 parish priests "
c200 year. subject TO EOS year for the 4
bishops, who could have by that arrange !: ,c
nent nearly Ct, coo year. If be thought Il
he peculiar dogmas Of the Romish Church o.
would be in any way advanced BY what be =
vas proposing, he would not persist in his u ~
dvice for moment. But from the days of p
Constantine downwards, experience had
hown that religions, false or true, had al W
Ways thriyen with persecution. 1t was not, " "
however, a religious, but political question. u
BY giving support to the Roman Catholic ~
1hureh the Government would remove u
'olitical anomaly, gain apolitical advantage, I;
nd above all, perform an act OF grace to the u
rish people. The opinions he had ventured NJ
o express were not new; they had been held a'
" Mr.. Pitt, the first Minister who ever 81
uled the country, and also by Lord Castle ~ ~
eagh; and he had sufficient confidence in the "
iberality of the noble Earl at the head Of u,
he Government to look forward with hope y
or favorable answer to his question when 81
Ie asked whether it was the intention of her z a.
dajesty's Government to bring forward any ~ -
MEASURE for the support of the Roman Ca >. -
holic priests in Ireland, independently of y
he support of the people? He also moved oS
or returns of the Roman Catholic clergy 10 u'
reland, distinguishing between those who w
rere parish priests and those who were Gu A'
ates Hear, hear.) - rfa ~f-0Ve OF
Earl Russell-The noble lord has quoted v
nch opinions as those of Pitt and Castle !