[To 171 EDITOR OF THZ "871:C71108:] Sin,—My attention has been
directed to a letter from Miss Anne W. Richardson, of Moyallan, Co. Down, in your issue of March 18th last, which contained statements as to the state of feeling existing between Roman Catholics and Protestants in the South of Ireland.
Miss Richardson may be an authority as to the state of affairs in the North-East of Ireland, but she has not lived in the South of Ireland, and she has not had the experiences of social life there that I have had.
I must be somewhat egotistical in order to establish my claim to be a competent witness, one who can give reliable evidence on this question. I am a member of the Society of Friends, and have spent my life as a trader at Carrick-on- Suir, Clonmel, &e., in the south-east of Ireland. I have taken an active part in the public life of my neighbourhood, I am a Justice of the Peace for the counties of Tipperary and Waterford, and have been for many years an elected member (and chairman) of the County Council of Tipperary South and the Urban Council of Carrick-on-Suir and other public bodies. Ninety to ninety-eight per cent. of my constituents are Roman Catholics, and if "Religious Intolerance" existed, I would not have been chosen for these positions. As regards the willingness of Roman Catholics to elect Protestants to publio boards, I may add that a Protestant Unionist and a Quaker lady were (the latter for many years) elected Guardians of the Poor at Carrick-on-Suir, a Quaker Unionist has for many years been Vice-Chairman of the Board of Guardians at Clonmel, and I could give instances of Roman Catholics, including priests, uniting to place Protestants in posts of profit and responsibility when they were suitable for such appointments.
With reference to Miss Richardson's statement about Waterford, the Salvation Army ladies there told me yesterday that they hold their open-air meetings without molestation, sometimes wearing uniform. One or two police are at times present as spectators, and this good order has prevailed for a long time.
The case of the Salvation Army officer who was injured on Waterford Quay about the year 1900 is an isolated occurrence, and, if I remember rightly, tactfulness might have prevented friction. Within my own knowledge two or more preachers, some in clerical costume, pray and preach at fairs in this district. They are listened to quietly and are not molested; although they stand in the way of traffic, the country people drive their carts round them. It would be impossible to picture a better and more Christian reception. The Fair folk are one hundred to one Roman Catholics.
Three or four Protestants have within the last few years taken farms in this district previously occupied by Roman Catholics, and their relations with their Roman Catholic neighbours have been altogether harmonious.
My father and mother and their family lived here through the disturbances in 1848 in William Smith O'Brien's time, and afterwards through the period of the Fenian troubles, but we never had any difficulty with our neighbours or any insult offered to us.
I have personally, no fear that whatever legislative changes may take place in the arrangements for the government of Ireland there will be anything to prevent Roman Catholics and Protestants from living harmoniously together in the land of their birth.—I am, Sir, &o., J. ERNEST GRUBB. Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland.
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