The Washington times., 1914-04-15

brave army officers at the Cur-agh
as simply providential.''
On the other side Of the hilly little
walled city / found DR.. McHuEh, the
Catholic bishop of Derry, q tall,
Celtic face.
He stood on the high ground over
looking the little green rising. only
stones throw away, where King
James troops fired and charged
against the Protestant defenders Of
Derry for three terrible months over
the dry river bed along which St.
Collum's Christian monks built their
little mud cells more than thirteen
centuries ago.
The Catholic Point of View.
As the bishop stood in the shadow
Of the crumbling gray stone wind
mill that marks the most exposed
position Of the besieged in that long
death-grapple between Christian and
Christian. he looked over the green
valley and at the rising mass Of the
historic city.
Il do not care to discuss politicS'
he said. but to show you the alb
surdity Of the suggestion that the
Catholic majority Of Ireland would
persecute or discriminate against
Protestants through an Irish pariia-
ment, ] have only to call your at
tention to the fact that two Of the
districts here, in which there are
ma5orities Of Catholic voters. are
represented in parliament by Protes-
tants.
'Only a few days ago we had to
work hard to prevent a public par
a.. 1F 10 ~. C~t ~-rt
teers.
THE Protestant volunteers have
been drilling and marching about
in the streets and on the roads and
openly boasting Of what they in
tend to do IL the home rule bill
passes. In the face Of these prep
araticns for war the Catholics
have remained silent and orderly.
yet. when the Irish volunteers
proposed to parade, the police were
hurriedly called in from the sur
rounding country and the entire
garrison was confined to barracks
in anticipation of an armed out
break. This mind you. in a city
which has majority Of Catholic
Inhabitants"
The bishop slowly paced the
ground beside the old windmill.
while the shouting Of the Catholic
college students in the football
grounds came to him over the
green fields and the bells Of Derry.
Catholic and Protestant. sounded
through the misty air.
Tone of the Struggle.
THE truth is that the Catholic
majority of Ireland today does not
ask whether a man Is a Catholic or
a Protestant, but whether he IL
Nationalist or a Unionist. They
ask simply for equality and for the
right OF the Irish people to control
Irish affairs in their own interest
These two powerful Derrymen, the
Protestant mayor and the Catholic
bishop, fairly represent the tone Of
the struggle throughout Ireland at
this moment
Even in Limavady. a sleepy town
Of about 5000 persons, seventeen
miles from Derry, / found the
Protestants training and arminx for
war. They have built drill nall
at a cost of 800 and have raised
a volunteer force of 90 infantry and
a hundred cavalry. one soldier TO
every ten inhabitants, and are care
fully drilled by an army captain
who lives near by.
aginable, set in the midst Of green
and fertile country. with its sole IN,
dustries a linen mill and an oatmeal
mill. and the surrounding farms
given up almost exclusively to flax'
potatoes, oats. and turnips.
In this sheltered place, whose
staid rows of substantial houses
and whose well-tilled fields and
trim fences speak Of thrift and
order, the flame OF fanatical re-
ligious hatred burns as intensely
as in Macedonia or Asia Minor
Yet every inhabitant OF Lima
yady is a protesting Christian.
And 1 can write without preJu-
dice OF this Protestant intolerance
all the more because my own
Scotch Presbyterian ancestors
come from Limavady and got their
bread from Its soil for many gen.
erations
There is a truly Celtic touch in
the situation. in that with the
whole north country arming and
training for war, the men do not
know whom they are TO fight
T asked one of the Derry volun-
teers yesterday whether he expect
ed to do battle against King
Georges soldiers
God forbid :" he said
who. them"
"I really don't know; they'll be
decidin' that in Belfast, dye mind.