POLITICAL PRIESTS AND IRISH RUIN
Political Priests and Irish Ruin. By Frank Hugh O'Donnell (P. S. King. ls. net.)—" Paraguay on Shannon" is Mr. O'Donnell's sub-title. Paraguay was ruled at one time by the Jesuits; Ireland is now ruled partially by the priests, and may be so entirely in the near future if it is true that " Home Rule is Rome Rule." The difference, he tells us, is that the Jesuit rule spelt prosperity; that of the Irish priests spells ruin. Mr. O'Donnell tells us many startling things. Here is one of them, which we give as we find it here : "Loughglynn House, the mansion of the Dillon estate, was for sale. Some layman offered £11,000 for it with the sporting rights ; it was sold for £2,100 to a Society of Belgo-German nuns, without, of course, the sporting rights." But, as these are declared to be of very little value, the bargain seems to have been a bad one. Then we are told of £10,000 advanced to a convent at Foxford for the starting of a woollen factory. One fatal objection to the plan is the absence of inspection. We give all this "in inverted commas," so to speak. One thing is certain—that it would not be well for Ireland to become what the Papal States were a century and a half ago.
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