The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-08-06
,By \. c, w, c. News service.O }

tBy y. c. w. c. News Service.)
At the moment when Ulster is at,
tempting To block and defeat the
negotiations for peace in Ireland by
claiming, on the grounds of superior
prosperity, intelligence and morals, a
different and preferential status fol-
the Orange bailiwick, fresh pertinence
is given to w. A. Meningitis new
book, ireland and the Ulster Legend. =
This is a statistical dissection of the
Orange contention that Ulster b.!
reason of its preeminence in materia}
resources. intellectual progress anC
moral excellence should be not only a
single Province but given special
privileges over all the rest of Ireland
as we'll This dissection Enthusiastically
disCloses that not only is Ulster not
superior in any of these several re
spectS. but that in all of them the
Orange Province is distinctly inferioI
to other sections of Ireland. More
than that, Mr.. Meningitis facts anC
figures demonstrate that Orange
Ulster is inferior in culture and morals
TO Catholic Ulster. Mr.. Mcknight is
himself Protestant and an Ulster
man.
Mr.. Meningitis statistical disproof
of the Orange legend comes from
official documents of the British Gov,
ernment-the Government which has
painstakingly fostered, if it hasn't it
self believed, the myth that has done
so much to keep Ulster in the ascend
ancy and the remainder of Ireland in
subsection. To strengthen his state
ments still further in credibility, Mr..
Mcknight took the precaution to have
his figures certified by London firm
of chartered accountants "to have beer
correctly extracted from the books and
documents" which the author quotes.
Protestant Woman Aids Mcknight.
Mrs. Sophie Byrant, D. &c., Litt.D.,
has written the foreword for SIr. Nc
knights book and gives an illuminat
ing Interpretation of his statistics
Mrs. Bryant is native of Ulster. the
daughter of Protestant clergyman
who formerly was Fellow of Trinit!
College, Dublin.
The claim made for Ulster and re
stated as the target of Mr.. Meningitis
deadly aim is that the people of the
Province are more prosperous, moro
intelligent, more civilized altogether
than those in the three other Irish
Provinces" The theory is that this
higher degree of civilization has beer
attained by the Ulstermen partly be
cause they are superior race, anC
partly because the majority of them
are supposed to be opposed to the
Catholic religion.
Upon this bold-and, as Mr.. Nc,
knight shows, baseless-aSsumptio OF
superiority is founded .the Orange
demand for the right to rule and hector
the other parts and people of Ireland
So sedulous has been the encourage
ment of this motion and so strong has
its influence been upon the English
mind, that listers hegemony has been
not only conceded but actually rec
ognized and established by a Who'll.
series of laws.
Catholic Ireland has, for pOlitica
and sectarian purposes, been pictured
as "priest-ridden land" Catholic
clergy were supposed to be swarminf
over the face of the country. Mr.. Nc
Knights book will surprise and dis
concert those who have so long be
lieved and propagated that ancien
misrepresentation. The census re
turns are cited by Mr.. Mcknight t.
show that the Episcopalians, in proper
tion to their numbers, had two ant
a quarter times as many clergy men al
the Catholics The Methodists, on tn,
same basis, had three times more.
An illustration of the discrimination
against Catholics in the Protestan
North, as compared with the absenc'
of such discrimination against Protest
ants in the Catholic province o
Munster, is supplied by the number 0
appointments as magistrates. Il
Ulster there were 775 Catholics AM
1,546 non-Catholics holding magistra
cies. In Munster there were 727 Cath
OIlCS anu IOS HOU-SdIuUllCS OCCupy Iii
this office, and that, notwithstanding
the Protestants are a much smalle
minority in this Province than Cath
olics are in Ulster.
AS to Material Prosperity.
Is Ulster superior in material pros
perity?
Mrs Bryant, with Mr.. Mcknight
statistics to furnish the answer, come
to this conclusion:
'Tt appears that Ulster is not NOR
prosperous in the worldly sense tha
the rest of Ireland, and clearly he
people are not more attached to tn
soil. 1t may be that political Ulster Q
today is but a mushroom growth, an
that the real old Ulster of the Bard
and Heroes will in the end absorb he
Anglo-Scottish foster-children with a.
their goodly racial qualities into tn
good old soil of kindly Irish huma
nature
Before reaching and stating thi