The Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork, Dr. O'Callaghan, having heard
a statement that the Mayor of Cork was a Fenian, put the question openly to him whether that was so or not, and expressed great satisfaction on receiving an assurance that it is not true. There is, however, said the Bishop, a Fenian Society in existence in Cork, and one which assumes the right to condemn to death under certain circumstances which are defined by the supreme council of the Association. " He wished to say openly that it was immoral for any man to impose such an obligation on another, and it was immoral and demeaning for any man to submit to such authority. He did not say these things in the interest of politics, and he hoped the young men of the city would be careful to avoid such societies, connection with which would exclude them from the Church." That is explicit enough, but hardly strong enough. We regard the condemnation to death by a secret society as a murder of a very much more heinous kind than any merely passionate and undeliherate aet of murder.
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