The St. Johns herald., 1891-01-15
The Roman Church and ParneII.

triumphed over Catholic Ireland In the person of Parnell, Roman Catholic Ireland, always true and loyal, and for centuries of time de voted to the best interests of the Church of Rome, has been struck down and humiliated by the defeat of its most cherished and success fiji party leader. Charles Stewart Parnell has fallen fighting in de- fense of Irish nationality and an independent parliament, torn to pieces and destroyed by the wolves of the Papal Church. No facts need be elicited to demonstrate that the issue was between patriots Of Ireland and the priests of Rome. Ireland may have been wrong, and we think it has been wrong. In all the struggles for home rule and an independent parliament, no honest man, who is at once intelligent and humane, can justify the plan of campaign, can defend the thousand atrocities that have been resorled to, to sustain the cause of home rulein Ireland. Its agragian crimes, its cowardly principle of boycotting, its infamous and dastardly assassi- nations, it's mutilation of cattle, and the thousand criminal and cow ardly devices that have been resort ed to all through the English Par liamentary struggle for the past five years, comprise history which t is not necessary 70 defend. Between Ireland-that portion of it which Is Catholic-and England, there has existed an internecine strife. It las been war. If Ireland did not open 1y rebel so that America or any oth
 CT nation could recognize 1t as belligerent, nor it's citizens entitled, if taken captive in battle, to the generous treatment accorded 10 prisoners 0t war, 1t Is apparent, nevertheless, that war existed. The contest that occurred in America, which we called Civil War;" re- cognized by England as belliger- ent condition, and the Confederate States were recognized by Papal au- thority as an independent govern ment, which cost Us nearly a mill- ion lives and ten thousand millions of treasure, never stirred a more hostile feeling and never led 10 a more bitter controversy than has existed for the past five years be- tween the people of Ireland and the people of England. Ireland thought j. had the opportunity to carve out for itself an independent national existence. It thought 1t saw the chance for establishing an indepen- dent national existence. It believed, and the intelligent statesmanship ot the world believed, that it might have been possible for England 10 concede tc Ireland limited, local authority that would have enabled the Irish people to manage Irish al- fairs, and to maintain with 1t friend ly relations. It seemed almost as though the consummation of this scheme was on the verge of rcaliza- tion. It seemed as though this peo- ple were about to achieve a recog- milton of the right of selfgovern- ment, but no sooner had the oppor- tunity arrived than 1t was demon strated that the Roman Church was the enemy of the Irish people, and determined to prevent tue realiza- tion of Irish nationality. When the issue was made between Glad stone and Parnell, when a conspir- aey was exposed in the Home-Rule Irish party, which threatened to de pose the successful Irish leader, t was the Roman hierarchy and the native-born Catholic priest that in
 cited the revolt against ParnelI. When he took lis appeal to Ireland, every Roman Church was husting place for political organization