The Irish standard., 1900-05-12
VICTORIA AND THE IRISH CATHOLICS.

The queens visit has been unquestion-
ably marked by determined desire, sc
far as forms and ceremonies and roya
courtesy might suffice, to conciliate
Irish Catholic opinion. says the Dublin
Frecman's Journal. That this was the
deliberate intention Of her majesty is
plain from the selection OF the Catholic
Earl Of Dcnbigh as her chief attendant
1t was also manifested by her refusal tc
lessen the compliment to Catholic Dub
lin by accepting the invitation to extend
her visit to Protestant Belfast All the
chief Catholic charities OF Dublin have
been visited by her majesty or by some
members OF the royal party. The Car
dinal Archbishop of Armagh was one
Of the most honored guests at the royal
table. At Rathfarnham Convent and at
Mount AWHILE the queen convcrsed
most graciously, not merely with the
Rev. Mothers and the Sisters in charge,
but with numbers OF the Jesuit and Do
minican Fathers assembled to welcome
her. She paid special visit to the great
Vincentian College at Castleknock, and
treated its distinguished president with
special complaccncy. The question is
inevitable, now that her majesty's visit
has come to close, what was the mean
ing and what will be the practical result
of the complaisance which she has so
openly manifested towards the Catholics
OF Ireland. Does it imply an honest
attempt to. remove all or any of the
grievances innumerable and intolerable
under which Irish Catholics still labor?
1t is perhaps worth recalling that
while the viceroy of India may be a
Catholic all Catholics are by statute
shut out from the position in Catholic
Ireland. This, however, it may with
some force be contcnded is but senti-
mental grievance by which the vast body
OF the people are wholly unaffected. A
grievance Of a much more serious char
acter is the statute which robs the men,
bers Of religious orders in Ireland of
civil rights and liberty and degradcs
them to the level OF outlaws and crimi-
nails. By clause in the act of enamel
patton as drastic as anything in the old
penal laws the members of religious or
ders in Ireland are, ipso facto, criminals
of particularly desperate type and liable
to penal servitude for life. The penal
servitude is, of course, not enforced
but the Jcsuits, Dominicans, and Vim
centians are none the less subjected tc
very gross indignity and injustice. They
are every other day plundered by thi:
ubiquitous law OF large sums bequeathee
to them. Religion and charity suffe,
proportionately. 1t is certainly little
curious to reflect that her majesty dur
ing her visit was engaged in courteous
intercourse with those statutable out
laws and criminals, whose degrading
disabilities her majesty's government
decline to redress. Irish governmental
and judicial appointments are practi
, cally monopolized by Protestants in thi
Catholic country, where Catholics ar
in majority OF over seventy-fve pc
cent of the entire population. The exec
utive government OF the country
wholly in the hands of Protestant Off
Gals from the lord lieutenant down
wards. Catholic Ireland is the onl
country in Europe whose executive doe
not include single Catholic. The fou
Judges OF the High Court Of Appeal ar
all Protestants. OF the fifteen superio
court judges the Protestant majority