Archbishop Croke has an odd idea of the duty of
obeying the law. He said, in a speech at Holyeross, Munster, on June 1, " I wish you to repeat here solemnly this evening that the Govern- ment of this country will act an unhandsome and an unpaternal part, if they do not interpose now between the landlords and the people. Let evictions be suspended ; let no police and no soldiers be sent out by the Government; to assist the landlords to collect their rent ;" and so forth. The landlords might just as well tell the Government that they would act in an unhandsome manner, if they allowed the peasants to call in the aid of the police against them, when assaulted by landlords. What Arch- bishop Croke asks the Government to do is to set the example of disobeying the existing law, pending the passing of a new law. A Government that did that would be an illegal Govern- ment, a Government taking law into its own hands. Why should the Government be trusted to enforce an improved law, if it had no scruple in setting the example of breaking the existing law ? Archbishop Croke advises lawlessness to the depositary of all legal authority, and he cannot strike a heavier blow at order than that.
