An Irish correspondent sends us a copy of a letter
written to
the newspapers by Dr. Cohalan, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork. At the end of his letter Dr. Cohalan says :—
" The question is this—Should the Bishops tell the police that they are not bound in conscience to perform the many acts of coercion which are goading the people beyond restraint ; that there can be lawfulness and unlawfulness in executive government ; that when the mode of government has no sanc- tion in morals its execution has no sanction under the moral law ? "
This is a very cunning and dangerous appeal to further lawless-
ness, and is but thinly disguised under a verbal appearance of moderation. It is perfectly disgraceful that the loyalty of the police, which has hitherto been wonderful and amazing, should be undermined in this way. Why should the law in Ireland respect the persons of Roman Catholic prelates who utter this sort of incitement ? Everybody knows the enormous authority possessed by the priests, and naturally such a letter from Dr, Cohalan tends to make things even worse than they are.
