THE AMERICAN VISIT TO IRELAND.
(To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.")
see that the usual amount of humbug is being talks I in England with reference to the visit of the Americas delegates to Ireland. It is represented that the views thee have expressed are new and have given offence to a lari..w number of people in this country. The delegates who have recently been here made longer speeches and addressed larger audiences than those who came from America ten years age as the guests of Mr. Redmond; but the views expressed by them and by the local politicians who welcomed them were exactly the same. Possibly Mr. Birrell, who was at that lime living in London and drawing a salary as Chief Secretary for Is eland. never heard of them; but Mr. Redmond, who practically ruled the country, travelled about with his guests and never expressed any dissent from their views. No doubt the delegates have given offence to a number of people—that is, to the Unionists. But Roman Catholic Archbishops and Bishops and scores of priests have welcomed them cordially, as have Mayors, County Councillors, and prominent Nationalist■ throughout the country. In fact, they made a triumphal progress. It is hard to see how the Bishops could have actei differently, for last March, in their Lenten Pastorals, they demanded that Ireland should be admitted to the Peace Con- ference and obtain from it the 'right of self-determination, and they must have known that that would mean an over- whelming majority in favour of a Republic. Bishop Fogarty said in his Pastoral:— " The pursuit of greed and plunder brought a foreign Power amongst us 700 years ago. From that hour to this our little country has not had one year's peace. At this moment when all the world is talking of freedom she is being tortured and harassed by that alien rule to a point of exasperation "fillets has become almost unbearable."
And yet people in England believe that the Roman Catholic Bishops are not in favour of separation !—I am, Sir. fie.,
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