But it is in Ireland that the • epistolary tumult
is most conspi- cuous ; for missives are flying in all directions. Some are adapted to keep up and exasperate dissensions, others to damp the fire or sooth the irritation.
Of the stimulative sort is Mr. O'Connell's letter to the Bishop of Meath on the Charitable Bequests Act. It is a laborious and loose collection of crude ex parte arguments, like an undigested brief; the paragraphs ticketed with numbers from "first" to "twenty-secondly," not to mention subordinate divisions, like second-hand furniture tumbled together at a sale. His toil at- tests his anxiety to prevent any spoiling of the agitation-market by conciliatory measures.
In the Romish Bishop of Meath he finds an echo of the Paddy Blake order' —a hearty response to his assaults on the Act, on Archbishop Murray, and so forth ; only perhaps going a little fur- ther in vehemence than the great Agitator.
The war-whoop is raised also on the other, the Protestant side : out come a majority of the Irish Protestant Bishops—nine of the four- teen—with a newly-reiterated protest against the National System of Education. What brings them forth just now, as if on purpose to fan the flame ? Perhaps, like Mr. O'Connell, they.are dismayed -at the advance of conciliation, and want by their roar to remind the Minister of a lion in his path, lest he go further. Perhaps they have an eye to the grants of money for education purposes which are so rife; and make a noise betimes that the Church Education Board may not be forgotten. They do more, however, With their unseasonable outcry : they remind One, that although Lord Stanley pared down the Established Church in Ireland, there IS still foo much . of it for_ the peace of that country—too many _BishOps-‘-too many by about nine, If disorder is abroad, the spirit of peace also gains strength. It is embodied in another letter, by fifty priests of Dublin diocese who gather round Archbishop Murray, the defender and adminis: trator of the Bequests Act.
But the most striking act of pacification has been the publica- tion of a double letter from Archbishop Crolly to Mr. O'Connell, incorporating the genuine rescript from Rome, which the Libe- rator had declared to be " uncanonical." It appears that the document is strictly- formal, and is addressed by the Con- gregatio de Propaganda Fide to the Primate of Ireland, in the name of the Pontiff. How a Roman Catholic can refuse de- ference to it, Protestants will be at a loss to understand : contu- macy looks very like a positive act of schism—a new Protestant- ism. The missive consists of a solemn injunction on the clergy of Ireland to abstain from worldly affairs, and especially from. political agitation; to defer in civil matters to the temporal. power - and to preach submission and peace by word and example. The Arch-Repealer and his followers try to evade the effect of this restriction by denying that the Pope has any temporal au- thority- in Ireland : the rescript asserts none. Mr. O'Con- nell admits the supreme authority of the Pope in matters of doctrine and discipline : the rescript concerns doctrine and discipline, and it is addressed to the clergy alone, the Pontiff's subordinates. The doctrine involved in it is the doctrine preached by the Founder of the Church on that rock which Rome professes to represent—that the members of the Christian Church should render unto Cesar the things which are Ctesar's. And as a. matter of discipline, the Pontiff recalls his clergy from the .out- ward world to an exclusive care of their sacred calling. There may indeed be the doctrine of passive obedience to the powers that be] involved, as a thing to be preached to the laity; but of that the laity must judge when it comes before them in due course. Until that time, the rescript is entirely an affair be- tween the clergy and their spiritual head. If he summons them. away from the Repeal agitation to the cloister, it may prove very detrimental to the Repeal rent ; but will it be pretended that they are to take orders rathe4 Daniel O'Connell than offiregory the Sixteenth? •
In the midst of the hubbub, forth comes a note from an unex- pected correspondent, the Lord-Lieutenant ! He tells Archbishop Crony that there is no attempt making by the British Govern- ment to obtain from Rome the concordat, about which-there has been so much disputative conjecture. . • -
On a review of the whole of this tumultua7 scene, some new light seems to be thrown upon Irish agitation. The bonds of parties and sects are shaken loose for the moment ; and until new combinations occur, the elements lie exposed to separate scrutiny. It seems that although the bigoted oppression of England caused Irish grievances to assume the shape Of religious injury—al- though religion was the pretext of many a claim—the agitators, as soon as the prevalent religious influence of Ireland turns against themselves, make no scruple to .disown their spiritual authorities : Roman Catholics talk of " lifting their hand" against the Pope, of resisting "the aggression of tyranny," and sneer at "the scarlet lady of the seven hills " ! Nationality is rampant ; and, religious distinction not for the moment coinciding with it, the distinction is cast aside as useless lumber. That, how- ever, is only done by coarse and inferior minds. Others of a higher stamp seem gladly to feel the emancipation of religion from the thraldom of political subserviency. A schism has sprung up among the Irish Catholics,—on one side standing the Papal authority, moderation, superiority to distinctions of party or race, and love of order ; on the other, Repeal, jealousies of race and party, defiance of the Holy See. Which influence will prove the stronger, time will show • but for the present, the schism, pro ti-onto, is in derogation of O'Connell 's influence ; and thus it adds to the many facilities opening to Government for doing good to Ireland without regard to party.
