Dr. O'Dwyer replied to this violent demonstration against him, in
a temperate and very able letter to the Freeman's Journal, pointing out that he took ground against the "Plan of Campaign" and " Boycotting " long before the Papal Rescript condemned them ; that he, as a Bishop, is bound to keep his flock from offending against the moral law ; and that it was for this purpose that he endeavoured to bring about a settlement of the rents on the Glensharrold estate which would at once relieve the tenants from rack-renting, and take away the temptation to the use of unlawful means for getting their rents lowered. He declared that even if " Boycotting " and the "Plan of Campaign" would not only secure the freedom and wealth of Ireland, but were the only weapons which would do so, he should be bound, as a Bishop, to condemn the use of them, because the use of them is intrinsically wrong And he challenged any other member of the Irish Episcopate to deny that the use of them is intrinsically wrong. Moreover, he narrated how some of the Glensharrold tenants had come to him by night to beg his protection if they should accept the settlement he had proposed, and so save their holdings.
