A character-sketch of Archbishop Croke in, the Review of Reviews
has reopened the old controversy whether the Irish hierarchy would have thrown over Mr. Parnell even if the Non- conformist conscience had not been aroused, or whether they only moved in the matter after Mr. Gladstone's letter. Mr. Stead declares that they were merely slow and deliberate, but that they always intended to ostracise Mr. Parnell if he were proved guilty. Dr. Kenny, the Parnellite, speaking in Dublin on Tuesday, has declared, however, with the utmost emphasis, that this is not a correct statement of the facts, and that the "Irish Bishops as a body took no action whatever in the matter until the Nonconformist conscience woke up." Dr. Kenny went on to say that he was in possession of letters from Archbishop Walsh, the last dated November 24th, several days after the Leinster Hall meeting and within three days of the Committee-room No. 15 meeting. These documents could not be gainsaid, and if Archbishop Croke persevered in the assertion that the Bishops acted as a body before the publication of Mr. Gladstone's letter, he was prepared to pro- duce the documents in his possession to prove that there was no truth in the statement. "It was absolutely true that the Bishops of Ireland as a body lay low until Mr. Gladstone's letter appeared."
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