The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-02-18
ATH0L|C T0LERATI0N
IN IRELAND.
Statistics Show That Ulster ID No
Longer q DestinctiveIy Protes-
tant Province.


Some striking statistics from the pen
Of John Redmond, M. r., are given In
an article which he contributed few
weeks ago to Reynolds Newspaper"
He states that the result Of the
December elections means much for
the future of Ireland. It is practically
demand on the part of the Irish peo-
pie for full measure of seIf-govern-
ment in all purely Irish affairs. This
will not be granted without struggle
against the opposition of those who
maintain that Irish Professionals will
not be safe in freely elected Irish
parliament dominated, as is likely, by
Catholics who are said to be bigoted
and intolerant.
An effort is being made to terrify
the friends of Home Rule in Britain by
raising what is called the "Ulster
question" This he disposes of by
showing that Protestant" Ulster, with
population of 1,582,826, has 699,202
Catholics, or little more than AZ per
cent. If the City of Belfast, with it's
| 349, 180 inhabitants, of which 1882
are Catholics, be excluded the Cath
Ollie number nearly SO per cent. of the
total population Five of it's nine
counties are Overwhelmingly Catholic.
In two out of the four counties in
which Protestants are in the majority
As per cent. of the people are Catholic.
| In the remaining two the Catholic
minority is over 81 per cent. in the
one, and over 20 per cent. in the
other Belfast, itself, is more than "a
/ per cent. Catholic. Surely if any
Professionals in Ireland need protection
it is those of the South and West
where their number is so small.
! Under Home Rule why should Pro-
testants fear persecution of Catholics
In the past many eminent Protestants
have borne testimony to the spirit OF
religious liberation which animated
Catholics, and this is shown at present
| by the attitude of Catholics towards
Protestants in localities wherein they
are in the majority as compared with
that of Protestants towards Catholics
when the former are in the lead as
far as numbers are concerned. Cath
Ollie Dublin and Catholic Cork have
had Protestant mayors; but Protestant
| Belfast and Protestant Derry have
never had Catholic mayors. Catholic
constituencies have sent Protestants to
tant constituency returned the compli-
ment?
| Statistics show that in Catholic
counties nearly all the highly-paid pc
sitions i'm the county government are
held by Professionals, while in the Pro-
testant counties only the lowest and
worst-paid positions fall to the lot of
Catholics In the boroughs similar
state of affairs exist. With regard to
education it is notorious that until now
Catholics have been deprived, on ac-
count of their religion, of university
education in Ireland. Nevertheless in
the Royal University and any inter
mediate examinations, the superiority
of the Catholic schools and pupils has
been demonstrated again and again.
With regard to the primary schools in
Ulster, in 1907, the pupils of each re-
! igious denomination in attendance
were: Catholics, 104,972; Episco-
pa1ians, 58,317; Presbyterians, 1861;
Methodists, TIT; all others, 5,179;
showing Catholic average of "a per
cent These figures speak for them
selves.
In connection with this it may not
be uninteresting to reproduce the fol-
lowing from the Catholic Advance:
'"Three-fourths of the population of
Ireland are Catholics. Of twenty-three
Lord Lieutenants since 1882, not one
has been Catholic Catholics are ex-
cluded by law from the Office of Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland). OF thirty
Chief Secretaries not one Catholic.
1t is not necessary by law that the
Chief Secretary of the Commander of
the Forces should be Protestant, but
no Catholic has ever yet been allowed
to fill either of these exalted offices.
Out of sixty Privy Councillors in Ire
land four only are Catholics, and three
out of seventeen judges. Eleven out
OF the sixty sub Qand) commissioners
are Catholics; seven out. of the twenty
one county court judges. The head of
the police force is Protestant. One
only of the thirty-six county (police)
inspectors is a Catholic; of ITO district
inspectors only ten are of that faith,
and of sixty-fve resident (paid) mag
istrates only fifteen are Catholics. If
we take the valuation or registration
offices, the inspectorship of factories,
Board of Works, the Woods and For
ests, the Ordinance Survey, and any
and every public department, Protest
ants hold three places out of four,
though they are but one-quarter of the
whole population! The extreme pro
testant) party, as we have seen, have
secured no fewer than seven Offices in
the Government, and their followers