The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1902-10-04
DAylrT AND BISHOP CLANCY.

When Bishop Clancy OF Elphin made
an unprovoked attack upon Michael
Davitt and his colleagues in the inter-
est of an exterminating landlord, and
denounced them as strangers and
strollers" in Roscommon, he made a
great mistake, as our readers will dis
cover after perusing the reply of the
Irish patriot which appears on the
first page of this ISSUE
If Bishop Clancy confines himself to
the question of landlord and tenant
and speaks as Il British subject, he
certainly has the right to take part in
my debate relating to the welfare OF
his own flock; but if he tries to escape
criticism by virtue of his sacred office,
and seeks refuge behind his sacredotal
robes when he stigmatizes the chosen
leaders OF the people as ''so-called
Catholics" intruders and interlopers,
he goes too far in his zeal and de-
serves to be rebuled.
abroad is more competent to discuss
the Irish land question than Michael
Davitt, and no man has made greater
sacrifices for his country than the
ona-armed hero who founded the Irish
Land League and made it such pow
erful weapon against felonious land
lordism.
Some twenty years ago when he
opened the campaign against land
lordism in a speech from a platform
erected on the ruins of the cabin in
which he was born, he was antagon-
lied by an eminent prelate Of the
church who is now no m;re. That
prelate was Archbishop McHale wh Ill
O'Connell i'll his day had styled "The
Lion of the Fold Of Judah" The pa
triotic archbishop deemed it impossi-
BILE for an unknown man like Davitt
who had emerged from a British pris-
OH OH "a ticket of leave" to success
fully combat the powerful landowners
of Ireland with the government of
England behind them, and consequent
ly he discouraged the movement and
warned his flock against it. But when
1t was endorsed by Parnell and his
party the Archbishop Withdrew his OBJ
.ections and encouraged it by voice and
pen. 1t is needless to say what benefits
accrue to Ireland from the establish
ment Of the Lana League by the man
who is now denounced as "a so-called
Catholic" by THE Bishop of Elphin.
The Irish prelate is a friend of Lord
De Freyne, the evicting landlord
whose estate is mortgaged to May
nooth College, in which Bishop Clancy
was Il professor before his elevation
to the hierarchy. That fact alone
would restrain a prelate of sensitive
feelings from participating too agrees
sively in the campaign waged against
tyrants at Il time when martial law
is in force in Roscomlnon and when
without the benefit Of trial by jury
Such religo-political prelate as Bish-
op Clancy deserves the castigation ad-
ministered by Davitt in the letter we
publish today.
AS rule, the Catholic bishops Of
Ireland have been always with the
people in their struggle for right and
justice, but there have been some ex-
ceptions. In the days Of Nenianism
and the Land League Il few of them
stood aloof from the people and gave
comfort to the government. One Of
them hurled his anatlhema against the
revolutionists OF 1867 and declared
that they We're guilty of an offense,
"for the punishment of which hell was
not hot enough or eternity long
enough" The offense consisted in the
attempt to overthrow the British gov
eminent in Ireland by force Of arms,
and many patriotic fellows who had
the courage to grapple with the alien
government winch keeps their native
land in chains, suffered punishment
enough in British prisons. Among
them was Michael Davitt. He re-
ceived sentence Of fifteen years pc
nal servitude for ''consoiring to over
turn British rule in Ireland"
Though Fenianism proved abortive
yet Ireland was benefited in degree
by the adjustment of the English
church establishment which had been
an incubus on the Irish nation for
ages. Gladstone himself admitted that
its downfall was due to the fear in
spired by the formidable Fenian organ
ization.
Bishop Clancy felt the force Of
Davitt's criticism for he replied to his
| structures in letter of several COL
umns in length. Davitt again made
reply and quoted for his instruction
from an edict issued by Pope Clement
VII. on ascending the papal throne OH
the great evil of turning the fertile
lands of the dominion of the Holy See
into grazing farms. The graziers of
the Campagna. like the graziers of
Connaught, did not like to turn oven
the lands for cultivation, but the Pope
paid no attention to their protests. Mr.
Davitt gives Bishop Clancy the name