Lord Londonderry maintained that Protestants all over the country, and
not only in the North of Ireland, had been stirred by the case. He strongly protested against the insinuation that the ease had been exploited for political pur- poses at the elections. Lord Cromer thought the beat course would be to endeavour to persuade the Roman Catholic Church to revert to the practice before the decree was enforced, a view in which the Duke of Norfolk virtually concurred. Lord Ashbourne pertinently asked why this bolt from the blue was introduced in 1907, after having been practically withdrawn for two-and-a-half centuries. Lord Crewe pointed out that he could not be expected to answer definitely whether it was possible for the Government to approach the Church of Rome with a view to get the decree withdrawn. As the Duke of Norfolk had told them, no means of direct communication with the Vatican existed. But the civil law could not be overridden, and "a grave responsibility rested upon the priests and ministers of any religion who led people to believe that they were not married according to the law of their Church, and at the same time did not make clear to them what their civil position was and what were the duties which the law imposed upon those who had gone through the ceremony of marriage." The motion was then withdrawn.
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