THE DANGER OF PERSECUTION UNDER HOME-RULE.
IT will be apparent, from the letters of more than one correspondent who knows Ireland well, that very grave fears are entertained of the revival of religious persecution in Ireland under Home-rule, in spite of Mr. Parnell's assurances that no such possibility exists, and that he especially, as a Protestant, would never lend his sanction to any revival of religious animosity in Ireland. The real question, no doubt, is not what Mr. Parnell or even his more intelligent followers would approve, but what the measure of their influence in these matters would be if once Ireland felt herself independent of their help. We are by no means disposed to exaggerate the danger of a revival of religious bigotry. It is perfectly obvious that those who cry out most just now are precisely the men whose absolute ascendency in Ireland would certainly mean the revival of religious bigotry, but the revival of Pro- testant bigotry, not of Catholic bigotry. If the Ulster Orangemen were ever at the head of affairs, we should look not, indeed, for anything so bad as the penal laws over again, but still for a very harsh treatment of the Roman Catholic Church, and, therefore, we are not disposed to give any great weight to Orangemen's words when we find them expatiating eloquently on the danger of a massacre of the Pro- testants by the Catholics. We should be very much sur- prised if either party went as far as massacre in these days. But if either party did, it would be at least as likely to be the Orangemen as the Catholics,—perhaps more likely, since a minority in the ascendent is apt to be more afraid of a sudden reverse, and therefore more unscrupulous in using temporary success, than a majority. But putting aside the attempt to excite panic about massacre, which we think Dr. Maguire very ill-advised in trying to excite afresh in his rather screamy pamphlet on "England's Duty to Ireland," we do think that there is quite sufficient reason shown, both in that pamphlet and in our correspondent " D. A.'s" letter, for serious anxiety as to the sort of use which the Roman Catholic priesthood would make of their victory, if they found an Irish Parliament completely under their control. The remark quoted by Dr. Maguire from Friar Behan, "From the topmost to the bottomest man, we'll have a man of our own," has the genuine Irish Catholic ring about it, and it will mean a good deal, if ever, and whenever, the Irish Catholics really find themselves in command of the situation. It is perfectly true that during the last fifty years the Irish Roman Catholics hive not only used Protestants freely, but have almost seemed to prefer Protestants as representatives,—chiefly, no doubt, because the Protestants seldom ventured to dispute the dictates of the priests on religious questions, while here and there a good Catholic did venture to do so. But once let them feel quite safe in dispensing with Protestant aid, and we believe that they would prefer to dispense with that aid, not only in the education of Roman Catholics, where they may find a very fair excuse for dispensing with it, but (as in the case of the unfortunate workhouse-girl whose mother had been a Roman Catholic, mentioned by our correspondent) in any case in which the Catholic prejudice against those whom Catholics regard as Protestant interlopers, could find a plausible excuse for bursting out. Even Cardinal M'Cabe, says Dr. Maguire, directed that no legal or medical man should be employed unless he belonged to the Royal,—i.e., the Roman Catholic,—University. Now, we do not know on what authority Dr. Maguire makes this statement, and it may be inaccurate. But if true, it is just the sort of imitation of Protestant exclusiveness in former days, which we should expect, and precisely the kind of exclusive- ness which is the beginning of much bitterer and more danger- ous forms of persecution. If workhouse-girls are to be mobbed because, baying had a Protestant father, they choose to adhere to the religion of that father rather than to that of their mother, and all Protestant professional men are to be boy- cotted by good Catholics, under the guidance of their priests, we may be quite sure of this,—tbat Ireland under Home-rule will speedily see religious animosity reviving in flames at which we in England shall not be at all well disposed to look on with indifference, and without active interference.
There is, too, a form of religions persecution which class- feeling may take, indicated in our correspondent's story of the village expectation that the Protestant Rector would soon have to follow the Catholic or Protestant landlord into exile. " What business has the likes of him in a Catholic country T Like Mr. — [the landlord], he will soon have to cut his stick and fly out of this." That, no doubt, is nominally religious bigotry, but it is really the greediness of the land-coveting class veiling itself behind religious prejudice ; and for a very dangerous wave of feeling of that kind we should cer- tainly look. A great part of the Irish peasantry are now persuaded that they have a full right to their land without paying rent at all, and they pay it only under stress of legal compulsion. Whenever they see a man not of their class living comfortably in a house and grounds of his own, some of them begin to grudge these possessions to him, as they have learned to grudge them to their landlords, and they use religious heresy as the excuse for gratifying their land-passion. We do not doubt that, rather from the latter feeling than the former, the Protestant clergy who retain possession of eligible residences would have a very bad time of it so soon as the police should find themselves acting under authorities who, if they did not share the Roman Catholic prejudices, would yet be very unwilling to alienate Roman Catholic voters. It is certain that the Irish people are a very bad people to run away from ; and it is undoubtedly true that they regard all they have won in relation to the land, and all they are hoping to win in relation to Home-rule, as wrung out of British fears by Irish threats. That is a temper which grows by what it feeds on. If the peasantry find that they have succeeded in wresting their land out of the hands of the landlords, and see another class,—entirely outside their own caste,—possessed of very eligible morsels of land, and belonging to a heretic Church, we feel very little doubt that there will be a great desire to expropriate them also, and that it will take more virtue than the Roman Catholic Administration will be likely to possess, to maintain the Protestant clergy's rights with unflinching justice. Therefore, without looking for " massacre," or any of Dr. Maguire's anticipated flames, we do think there is very grave reason to fear a fresh burst of religious animosity as the natural consequence of Home-rule.
Previous page
