LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more read, and there/ore more effective, than those which Jill treble the space.]
THE PAPACY AND THE IRISH HIERARCHY.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sill,—The two letters, each from a Catholic correspondent, pub- lished in the Times of April 25th under the significant heading of Gambetta's " Voila l'ennemi! " will surprise no one who has any knowledge of English Roman Catholics. No section of the community is more patriotic; and it is an open secret that of late years their relations with their Irish co-religionists, and at times even with Rome, have been strained. An Irish paper pub- lished in London, the Catholic Herald, heads a paragraph, refer- ring to the semi-official Tablet, "Catholic Treachery " (March 28th, 1918), and charges that journal with publishing " an article on the Peace proposals of the Holy Father which might have been printed in the Daily News, or the Globe, or any other notorious anti-Catholic organ." It is only fair to say that the attitude of the Catholic Herald on the war, on the Irish Rebellion of 1916, and on Sinn Fein, has been all that could be wished : and that, how- ever much we may regret both the policy of the Vatican with regard to the war, and that of the Irish Bishops with regard to Conscription, it is probable that the connexion between the two is slight. The Irish clergy dislike Roman intervention in Irish politics—the incidents of the Plan of Campaign and the Parnell Tribute under Leo XIII. will be remembered—and the Vatican is hostile to agitators and to agitation. The fact is that the pro- posal to extend Conscription to Ireland, judge it as we will, has unloosed a popular movement which the Bishops, who, like most Bishops, are timid, neither can nor dare oppose. Any pro-German feeling which may exist in Ireland—its amount is small—is due not to love of Germany but to hatred of England. If the Irish Government had adopted the French system of affichage, and placarded Lady Limerick's letter, stating that Prince Henry of Prussia, with the courtesy of his nation and House, had informed her of his personal wish to submerge Ireland and to shoot all the priests, in every town and village in Ireland, much good would have been done.
The connexion between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, whose spirit survives in the Central Powers, is so intimate that an anti-German Papacy is unthinkable. Both represent Authority and the brute force that lies behind it—the " gods in whose names men kill." The Allies stand for another civilization, and for ether standards and ideas of life. Hence a parting of the ways which makes the position of educated Catholics increasingly diffi- eult. Either they must cease to think, or a chasm is opened between their religion and their thinking. In normal times this may escape their notice. But at present, when the issues are clear-cut, and men's faculties are strained and sharp-set, this splitting up the moral life in two becomes intolerable; and the " treason against Humanity " of which the Papacy has been guilty seems the most heinous of sins. It was the moral wickedness of the official Church rather than any speculative errors in her teaching that brought about the Reformation and the Revolution. Men felt that it had become a Power of Evil. " Thou hest loved justice, and hated iniquity." Not a few Catholics are perilously near the suspicion that in this great crisis of the human race the Papacy has loved iniquity and hated justice. Call it faith or superstition, no confidence can endure the presence of such a suspicion: the institution which labours under it " must
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