The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-12-18
THE xoRNMe NssEsGER SUNDAY

came there's 3u4lil $t0 S1i6ld - itori6t
stake 20 the cdqntry M EIi4 ION, ~ Hon.
Valentine Lawlees. snA sflsrys.aa Lord
Recollections y just referredsto took An ac-
tive part ID irish affairs during the stirring
period which was marked blythe rising in
1898, the Union, the Emancipation, the
Reform Bill and the agitation for Repeal.
He speaks in 10 following terms of the
leading Protestants who opposed the policy
Of the Castle, or Joined the ranks Of the
United Lrishmen:
"Of my dear friend, Edward Fitzgerald,
of the Emmets, and Of Sampson, can say,
with not less certainty than of Grattan,
Curran, Arthur O'Connor, and the late
Duke of Leinster, that they were all, at the
outset of their career, actuated by the most
earnest love of the British Constitution !;
and that the truly patriotic object at which
they aimed was nothing else than the ex-
tension to Ireland of those blessings and
guarantees of liberty, civil and religions
the principles of which are eDgrained in
the texture of the Constitutional Monarchy
of England" We need not in this place
pause toexpfain Lord Cloncurrys use of the
term " religious liberty" His father had
| unfortunately brought him up in the Pro-
testant religion, and he writes as he may
be expected to write on such subjects. We,
as Catholics, are always obliged to employ
| the words "religious liberty" in a sense
en tirefy our Ow0, not forgetting, under any
circumstances, that in theory the Catholic
Church should have no rival, bat reign SUI
preme.
AS time went on, the leaders of the
United Irishmen changed their opinions,
and became penetrated with Republican
principles. Many of the Catholics aud of
| the loyal Dissenters seeded from them,
and thought it better to endure the evils
terrible and untried evil of having no gov
eminent at all. The loyal element being
thus eliminated from the society, it was felt
more free to prosecute its Revolutionary
designs. Hoche and Grouchy, with a
powerful feet, were on their way to the
not befriended England as of old, if the
French ships of the line, frigates and cor
vettes, had not been scattered by furious
tempest, Ireland might have been raised for
time into an independent Republic, or
made a tributary of France and the French
Directory. The United Irishmen, however,
continued to hope; and they prepared for
Instruction Notwithstanding second
fleet despatched by France was dis
persed by Admiral Duncan in the
Battle of Camperdown, in 1907. They
hoped, they prepared, but they delayed
also, and their delay proved fatal to their
hopes. They fancied that the Catholic
bishops and clergy would be drawn into
the popular movement, and give the sane
tions of religion to tho projected outbreak.
But Wolfe Tone, whom they sent on an
embassy to the French Government, was
as much deceived in this respect in 1896, as
Smith O'Brien was fiftytwO years later
and when he would have landed in Bantry
Bay with the scanty remains of Gen.
Hoche's storm-scattered expedition, DR..
Moylan, the Bishop of Cork, was issuing a
pastoral to his people, in which he warned
them against the French Republic as vehe-
mently as Edmund Burke himself. Though
a Catholic priest may be found here and
there who will favor insurrection, the
clergy have, as a body, too much patriot
ism to countenance the invasion of foreign
armies; too much sense not to see when
defeat is inevitable; and too much piety
not to know that few evils are greater
than those of rebellion, and that it is bet
ter, far better in general, to endure, suffer
and pray, than to endeavor to forestall the
designs of Providence, 7and take mp arms
against a Governmentfwhich, though bad
might be worse.