The Duke of Norfolk is, we believe, to leave London
to-day for Rome, if his uncle, Lord Lyons's condition permits, for the mission entrusted to him,—namely, to thank the Pope for the congratulations sent to the Queen of England on the occasion of her Jubilee. It would be well, we think, if the British Government had seen fit, or should see fit, to make this cere- monial visit the opportunity for exchanging views with Leo XIII. on the very difficult subject of the best mode of suiting Irish education to the wants of the Irish people, in such a way as not to hurt the susceptibilities of the Church acknowledged by the greater number of that people. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Limerick, Dr. O'Dwyer, one of the beet of the Irish prelates, has said within the last two or three weeks that the education question is really in the very front of all the questions which press for a satis- factory solution in Ireland; and of this we may be sure, that the solution of this question will never be satisfactory without some direct communication between the Government of Ireland and the head of the Church to which all Irish Roman Catholics bow. No better opportunity for opening these nego- tiations could be imagined than the Doke of Norfolk's mission ; and if such negotiations lead to a wish for further and fuller communications on other subjects, no sensible Protestant, and no really pions Catholic, would regret it. As an able writer in Murray'e Magazine for this month justly remarks, if the priesthood of Ireland were Buddhist instead of Roman Catholic, England would have done more to secure their loyalty, and would not have left their religions chief so severely alone.
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