The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-09-17

WI F1OW EMINENT CHURCH
oman ERRED IN POLITICAL TEN
ETs-cARDlNAL MANNING AND
THE IRISH QUESTION.
In the Life of Cardinal Manning by
Shane Leslie, reviewed in these col
umns last week, three entire chap
tiers are devoted exclusively to Ireland
This shows, for one thing, that Eng
lish public life, civil or ecclesiastical
cannot escape this question. lCardi-
nal Manning could not have escaped it,
even if he tried, writes canon Duffy
What was the Cardinals attitude
toward Ireland during his life And
what would be his attitude today, il
he were still among the living?
These are the two questions that start
to the lips after one has laid down
the splendid volume published by Ken
edy & Sons. Let us attempt an an
swer to each.
England and Ireland.
Professor Robert Moore Henry of
the Queens University, Belfast, an
Ulster Protestant, not Sim Feiner,
and, believe not even a Home Ruler
in the past, in the Introduction to his
Evolution Of Sim Fem, writes: 1T Is
almost common place of the political
moralists that every failure on the
part of England to satisfy the moder-
ITO and dc he
Irish people for reform has been fol-
lowed invariably by deplorable out
break of extremist activities in Ire
land. Unfortunately for the moral that
constitutional demands should there
fore be promptly and fully conceded,
the statement is exactly the reverse of
the truth, if Irish history as a whole
be taken as the field for induction.
The Irish nation cannot be said to
have at any period abandoned it's claim
to independence"
System of Doles.
In this statement there are contain
ed two truths which must be kept in
mind in judging of the Cardinals at
titude towards ireland; for his fail
ure to realize these two truths was the
cause, as it is with almost all English
men who attempt to solve the Irish
problem, why he failed to understand
what is the very essence of the ques-
ton between England and Ireland
These men, however wellmeaning and
sympathetic towards the Irish people,
believe that Ireland's demands could
be satisfied and Ireland be made '1oy-
all by system of doles; and this be-
cause they never really conceded that
Ireland is distinct and separate ma
ton, with all the rights of a nation to
distinct and separate national exist
ence. So long as that demand exists,
and it has. never been abandoned as
Professor Moore proves fully in the
same Introduction, no system of doles
or concessions" can ever satisfy it.
In the Sixties and during the Fen
ian activities, Cardinal Manning (who
had become Arch bishop Of 1Westmin-
ster in 1869 thought that Disestab-
lishment would satisfy the Irish de.
mand and pacify Ireland. He held
also that Disestablishment should be
accompanied by the granting of a
charter for Catholic university. Lat
er he joined-though it was always
in his thoughts even while he was an
Anglican-to these two doles a reform
of the Irish land laws. All three he
persistently and indefatigably pressed
on English statesmen of both parties
| and Unanswered with consummate
diplomatic skill for a union, as ii
once partially existed" of the English
and Irish Catholic Hierarchies, which
| would eventually mean, and was in.
tended to mean, the primacy of West
minister in the United Kingdom"
The Cardinals Statement.
Let me give passage in full from
his pastoral of 1867, to show the Car
| dinal's mind: PAST
| "The past is past and cannot be re,
called. Spain was once divided into
many peoples and dynasties; it has
been fused and united into one King.
dom. France was once many states
and monarchies; it is now one indis
soluble race and people. England was
once seven Kingdoms for a thousand
Years it has been a monarchy. Eng
land, Scotland and Ireland were once
three Kingdoms; they are now one in
Invisible realm. What God has con
solidated by ages of time no human
hand can dissolve. The onward march
of Divine Providence has accomplished
this fusion Of races in their higher
and mightier unity. There is no re
turning upon the past"
Refutation Of Views.
In reading these statements, one
asks in despair If any Englishman car
think logically of Ireland when Car
dinal Manning could SO write. In the
passage quoted there is absolutely nc
parallel. The premises do not justify
the induction; and the conclusion Is
of course, false. Ireland was ma
ton, self-centered and separate ane
distinct, before England had name or
the map. She had her own language
her own literature, her own code o.
written laws (the only code of writer
laws in Europe outside the Roman sys
tenn before the Saxon crossed the
Channel to invade. England, and {
thousand years before the Normans
crossed the Irish Sea.
4 ~ - II -