n or ecclesiastic, there is a system
which moves on, as soon as such movement becomes possible, in utter
disregard of his statements. At the time when Catholic emancipation was
in view, high Roman authorities gave the most emphatic guarantees that
the position of the then Established Church in Ireland would never be
endangered, so far as their Church and people were concerned. But when
the time came, such promises proved absolutely worthless. Whether the
disestablishment of the Irish Church was a good thing or not, is not the
question here. The essential point, for our present purpose, is that the
guarantees of individual Roman Catholics, no matter how positively or
how confidently stated, are of no account as against the steady age-long
policy of the Roman Church.

It is well known to all students that, while other religious bodies
have, both in theory and in practice, renounced certain old methods of
persuasion, the Roman Church still formally claims the power to control
states, to depose princes, to absolve subjects from their allegiance, to
extirpate heresy. She has never accepted the modern doctrine of
toleration. But there are many who think that these ancient claims,
though not renounced, are so much out-of-date in the modern world that
they mean practically nothing. Such is the opinion of the average
Englishman, and the mild and cultivated form of Romanism which is to be
met with usually in England lends colour to the opinion. In Ireland we
know better.

The recent Papal Decree, termed _Ne Temere_, regulating the
solemnisation of marriages, has been enforced in Ireland in a manner
which must seem impossible to Englishmen.

According to this Decree, "No marriage is valid which is not contracted
in the presence of the (Roman) parish priest of the place, or of the
Ordinary, or of a priest deputed by them, and of two witnesses at
least." This rule is binding on all Roman Catholics.

It is easy to see what hardship and wrong must follow the observance of
this rule in the case of mixed marriages.

As a result, it is now the case that, in Ireland, marriages which the
law of the land declares to be valid are declared null and void by the
Church of Rome, and the children of them are pronounced illegitimate.
Nor is this a mere academic opinion: such is the power of the Roman
Church in this country that she is able to enforce her laws without
deference to the authority of the State.

The celebrated McCann case is th