le and indisputable right
to guide the people in this momentous proceeding, as in every other
proceeding where the interests of Catholicity as well as the interests
of Irish nationality are involved. He suggested, and the suggestion
was adopted, that at all the political conventions held in the various
Irish counties an ex-officio vote should be given to the priests! This
embodied the principle that if Home Rule became law the Irish
priesthood would have privileges which would make them absolute rulers
of Ireland. Cardinal Logue says:--"We are face to face at the present
moment with a great disobedience to ecclesiastical authority." This
was in view of the Parnellite rebellion against priestly dictation.
"The doctrines of the present day," said the good Cardinal, "are
calculated (horror!) to wean the people from the priests' advice, to
separate the priests from the people, and (here the Cardinal must have
shivered with unspeakable disgust) TO LET THE PEOPLE USE THEIR OWN
JUDGMENT." These are Cardinal's words, not mine. To make any comment
would be to gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume
o'er the violet. Well might Mr. Gladstone say nineteen years ago:--"It
is the peculiarity of Roman theology, that by thrusting itself into
the temporal domain, it naturally, and even necessarily, comes to be a
frequent theme of political discussion." Archbishop Croke was the
inspirer of the Tipperary troubles, worked out by his tools, Dillon,
O'Brien, and Humphreys. Dr. Croke helped to found the Gaelic Athletic
Association, which is well-known to be the nucleus of a rebel army.
Dr. Croke gave L5 to the Manchester Murderers' Memorial Fund, and
accompanied the gift with a letter stating that the men who murdered
Police-sergeant Brett were "wrongfully arrested, unfairly tried,
barbarously executed, and went like heroes to their doom." It was Dr.
Croke who supported a movement to raise a pension for James Stephens,
the Fenian Head-centre, the famous Number One, the general of the
Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood. We are asked to believe that this
gentleman and his crew of subordinate clergy are eminently loyal, and
that the moment a Home Rule Bill puts it into their power to injure
England, from that very moment they will become friendly indeed, will
cease to do evil and learn to do well, and that the altars from which
England is now every Sunday hotly denounced will in future vibrate
with the resonant expression of sacerdo