Why I would Disestablish, edited by Andrew Reid (Longmans), is
described by the editor as "a representative book by representative men." This is not the time to examine the reasons which this very mixed company give for their opinion. We take a statement from one of them almost at random. "In 596 A.D., the monk Augustine introduced Roman Catholicism, the Culdees being driven to the mountains of Wales and Scotland." So " Professor F. Welkniss Aveline, M.A., B.Sc." The plain meaning of this is that Augustine's action caused the driving away of the Cnldees, who, we hear, were "probably more Protestant than Romish." Does the Professor thus read history ? It is quite certain that all the Christianity which Augustine found in England was Latin. Queen Bertha was a daughter of Charibert, King of Paris, and was accompanied to the Court of Ethelbert by a French Bishop.—Another book of "light and leading," for which we are indebted to the same editor and pub- lisher, is Ireland : a Book of Light on the Irish Problem.—Together with this, and perhaps not without some value as a corrective, may be mentioned The Eve of Rule : Impressions of Ireland in 1886. By H. Spenser Wilkinson. (Kagan Paul, Trench, and Co.)—Mr. Wilkinson, who acted as special correspondent to the Manchester Guardian, gives us facts—not by any means selected or doctored to suit a particular view—the luminaries whom Mr. Reid quotes, deal, we observe, largely in prophecy.
Previous page
