The Irish standard., 1901-05-04
THE KINGS BLASPHEMY.
The Archbishop Of Dublin on the
Coronation Oath.


In a letter to the corporation of Dub
lin Archbishop Walsh gives his views
on the subject of a resolution passed
by that body protesting against the
ribald oath taken by King Edward
VII. His Grace says in part "No one
can feel surprised that we Catholics
should strenuously protest against the
indignty sought to be put upon our
faith and upon the practices of our re-
ligion in having them thus rudely as
sailed from the throne. am happy to
see that our resentment is shared in
by many of our Protestant fellow
countrymen, but in all this there is one
thing not to be lost sight Of, especially
by us in Ireland. We cannot be too
careful to leave no room for misunder-
standing rs to our view of the bear
ing Of this particular matter upon the
position of our public affairs as Il
whole Speaking for myself, l feel
called upon to express my view upon
the point very plainly. l should re-
gard it as Il gricvous calamity If the
slightest vestige of room were to Ire
left for the notion that either the modi-
fication Or the abolition of the offensive
royal declaration could be regarded as
a set off against the delay of even a
single session of parliament in the re-
moval of the various pressing griev-
ances-financial, educational and ma
tional as well as religious-upon the
removal of which as Il matter of ele-
mentary justice we must without ceas-
Ing continue to insist. See. even in
outline how we stand. Year after
year, through the operation of an in
iquitous system of taxation, our coun-
try is plundered Of millions of pounds.
In the matter of education the claim
of our Catholic people to be placed
upon footing of equality with their
Protestant fellow-countrymen is still
unsatisfied, and is now, indeed, begin
ming to be regarded by some even
among ourselves as lying so far out
side the line of practical politics that
they despairingly tell us it is waste
or time or worse to seek to press it at
all. The religious orders of the Cath
Ole church within the realm are still
under the ban of the law. Our one
great national industry, the agriculture
OF our country, Is all but starved out
of existence by causes plainly removal
Die by legislation, amongst them the
present unnatural system of Irish land
tenure, with which no one even pro-
fesses to be satisfied, and which would
almost seem to be upheld in our midst
for the purpose Of hopelessly embit-
terlng the relations, always sufficient
~ strained, between those two great
sections of our population-the land
lords and the tillers Of the soil. While
this continues to be so, anxious as 7
am for the abolition Of the offensive
clause OF the royal declaration, / can
take, l confess, but secondary inter
est IN the matter; for 1 cannot but
think that, whether as regards the in.
terests OF religion or those of our conn.
try there are several ways in which
the time of parliament could be more
prontably spent than in legislation 70,
the purpose merely of exemptlne II
sovereign who believes our faith and
our religious worship as practiced Nv
us to be 'superstitious and .idola irons
from the disagreeable necessity of hay
ing to'avow before the world that he
eneertains this shocking belief about
u.s."