The Irish standard., 1911-05-27
1t is True They Have Never Been
Enforced Nor Have They Ever
Been Repealed.
The Law Officers of the Crown
Could, if They Saw Fit, Enforce
Them Now.
Some of the Incidents Connected
With the Passage of Those
Draconian Measures.

In this year of grace, 1911, there is
not an English, Irish or Scotch Jesuit,
living within the jurisdiction of an
English court of law, who, ON the con-
viction of the heinous offense of be-
ing member of the Society of Jesus,
may not be banished from the realm
for life. A bitter reminder, you will
say, of the cruel penal laws enacted
long before the dawn Of the nineteenth
century ushered in the liberal spirit.
which recognizes the right of every
man to worship God according to the
dictates of his conscience. This view
is erroneous says the Irish World.
The legislation, which makes out
laws of persons who would lead the
higher life, dates back only eighty-two
years. 1t is embodied in the Catholic
Emancipation Act of 1929. 1t was the
sop thrown to the anti-Catholic big
OTIS, who were shouting at the top of
their voices that England was doomed
to sure destruction if Catholic sub
jects of the King of England should
be relieved Of the disabilities they had
incurred by being loyal to the die
tates of conscience
was Las s Relief
Act of 1871, members OF Catholic re-
ligious orders were placed on the same
footing as other Catholics. That
measure Of relief, so far as they were
concerned, was repeated by the Cath
olic Emancipation Act of 1929, which
expressly declared that it is necessary
to make provision for the gradual
suppression and final prohibition Of
Jesuits and members of other religious
or monastic VOWS"
The so-called Emancipation Act did
not emancipate members of religious
orders. On the contrary, it stripped
them of whatever advantages they had
secured by the Relief Act of 1891. This
summary Of the 29th section brings out
the Draconian character of the legis-
lation: 'The 29th section deals with
the Jesuits and members of religious
orders-whether British subjects or
not-entering the country. Any mem
ber of such Order or Society entering
the country thereby commits misde-
meanor for which he is liable to be
sentenced and to be banished for life"
The same drastic section provides for
the extinction of religious orders by
prescribing severe penalties for the
admission of new members. The ap-
plicant for admission and the one
granting it incur the risk Of fine, i'm
prisonment and Punishment for life. If
three months after the order for BAN
tenders be found at large within the
United Kingdom he may be arrested
and condemned to penal servitude for
life
1t must not be supposed for one mo-
ment that these provisions have lost
any of their force at law. Undoubted-
ly they might be put in use at any
time to the discomfort and the partial
ruin of Catholics in England or Ire
land. The London tablet" dealing
editorially with the same subject,
makes this statement: "Some of our
readers, we imagine, on reading this
will be inclined to rub their eyes and
say, are these Draconian provisions
really part and parcel of the law of
this country? Yes, they are. They
have never been enforced but they
have never been repealed. They might
any moment be set in action at the in
stance of the law officers of the Crown.
Nor are they practically a dead let
ter as the phrase is. They have the
serious effect of disabling religious or
ders of men from holding property"
It is interesting, as a matter of his
tory, to recall the causes that brought
about the Catholic Emancipation Act,
which is marred by the provisions to
which we have called attention. iEigh-
ty-odd years ago Catholic Ireland, un-
der the leadership of O'Connell, was
in a ferment She was determined no
longer to put up with the penal laws
and made her determination known in
st s 4. n /.