IRELAND AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. [To THE EDITOR or
THE " SPECTATOrt."]
Sin,—In arriving at a right judgment upon this subject, it must not be forgotten that as far back as December, 1919, Archbishop Walsh gave his official sanction to the Sinn Fein movement by subscribing a hundred guineas to its funds, and in announcing the fact stated that the Imperial Government, " by attempting to crush the national spirit of our people, had its natural effect, that disaffection driven underground finds an outlet in crime." From that moment practically the entire body of Roman Catholic clergy began openly to identify them- selves with the extremists, and the Roman priesthood in England were not long in following suit.
On October 23rd last, the first anniversary of the suicide McSwiney, masses were said, with few exceptions, in almost every Roman Catholic Church throughout this country. The clergy usually act as honorary chairman of the local branch of the Irish Self-Determination League and continue to, despite the fact that 193 persons, avowed members of this organization, have been oonvicted of crimes against individuals and the State within the last two years. When Mrs. Lindsay was murdered the Rev. W. J. Stack, of St. Patrick's, Newcastle, wrote to the Morning Post, August 11th last, "Mrs. Lindsay knew the punishment meted out to those who inform against the I.R.A. She committed an offence whose punishment is death." When four members of the I.S.D.L. were charged here in London with attempting to fire the gasworks at Wandsworth last year, the Superior of the Oratory, Brompton, offered himself as bail, which was refused. In thousands of other ways the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has worked ardently in the cause of Revolution, and it must not be surprised if its sanction of murder and lawbreaking recoils with deadly effect upon itself for having lacked the moral courage to denounce crime.—I am,
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