fRISII ROMAN CATHOLIC MANIFESTO.—ATTACK ON PROTESTANTS. [To THE EDITOR or
THE SPECTATOR."' Sm,—The 'pronouncement which has just been issued by the Roman Catholic Bishops at Maynooth on the state of Northern Ireland 'merits serious notice. This episcopal manifesto, posing to be judicial but blindly partisan, is nothing but a deliberate attempt bo mislead world-opinion, to represent every "non- Catholic " in Ulster as a savage and monster fit only for the
scorn and reprobation of civilization, and to pour contempt and ignominy on the Northern Government. There are hundreds and thoueands of Catholics in Ulster who know in their hearts that this picture is cruelly false, and that the 'Protestant neighbours beside whom they live in quiet and comfort have no other desire than to continue on the friendliest of terms with them, Is it not callously provocative for the Roman Catholic Bishops to make the naked and unashamed assertion that every able-bodied Protestant in the Six Counties is supplied with arms to harass his Catholic neighbours with whom he had hitherto lived in peace? That is a malignant and monstrous untruth. I am an able-bodied Protestant and, like thousands of others, would scarcely know' how to handle a revolver or rifle if such weapons were put into my hands. But my life has been endangered time and .again, when I had to run past the end of streets or lie prostrate in trains to escape the bullets with whiCh the minions of "Use-the-Load " O'Duffy and others have menaced the safety of citizens, even in the very heart of the city. The only Catholic priest that I have read of being interfered with was-one who was found in the country carry- ing arms and ammunition, and the law that such a person should be immune from interference happily does not run in Ulster yet. The Bishops, however, would have the world believe that the Roman Catholic clergy are debarred from extending their consolations to the sick and dying within the area of the Six Counties. Surely the truth was never more in extrernis than in a flagrant falsehood of that kind.
Statements like the foregoing—and they are characteristic of the tone of the entire document—make a strange contribution to the spirit of conciliation which, in response to the Catholic appeal, the Northern Government showed its desire to foster by the recent creation of a committee which has already held several meetings in the City Hall, Belfast. Who drew 'first blood in 'Belfast? I wonder have 'the most reverend divines who sit 'in Maynooth and indite their pontifical pronounce- ments ever heard of the I.R.A.? Where, among the Loyalists and Protestants in the Six Counties, is there a murderous organization to correspond with the infamous horde who introduced the vile policy of assassination and brigandage into the 'North from the South by shooting down policemen, burn- ing 'Government property, derailing trains, harassing Loyalist civilians, and attempting generally to make Northern Govern- ment impossible? It was these enemies to law and order and pests 'to society who stirred up the devil's cauldron of sectarian strife in Belfast, leading to regrettable scenes in well-defined areas,' and the Bishops and the Catholic laity know it only too well. Why, then, should the -Hierarchy pillory the entire Protestant community by making the scandalous representation that the whole Loyalist population is engaged in a bloodthirsty war of extermination of Catholics—Catholics thousands upon thousands of whom earn their daily bread and butter in Protestant employment? Was it to exterminate Catholics, for instance, that a raking fire was maintained day after day from Upper Library Street (a Sinn Fein quarter) into Royal Avenue till leading business establishments were compelled to close down temporarily? Was it to exterminate Catholics that city trains were bombed in Royal Avenue and Corporation Street by Republican gunmen? Where were the expressions of horror and detestation from the Bishops then? Do they only cry'out when there are " reprisals "? The voice of Maynooth, which is so strong and stern when the sins of Protestants are under dennuciation, 'has been at the same time whispering a few wooing-words into the ears of "our fine young boys with their generous 'instincts," who, in other parts of Ireland, have arrogated to themselves the right to impose a fierce military despotism in defiance of all civil authority. Would it not occur 'to the Bishops that sections of these innocent " lambs " have pretipitated some of 'the conditions in Belfast which they so tearfully deplore? If the reverend gentlemen wish to secure the facts regarding the murders and evictions of Protestants in Belfast and Ulster they can be easily supplied. Since February let last no fewer than fifty-one Protestants and nine servants of the Crown have been murdered by the use of firearms in Belfast. These were not cases of promiscuous killing; they were deliberately planned and executed. In all the Sinn Fein districts Protestants have been driven from their homes, and many of them are now without house accommodation. Everybody is sick with horror and loathing at the awful deeds which have been perpetrated. Peace can be obtained at any time. One way is for the Bishops to tell their people that the Northern Government is established per- manently and that it must be obeyed. Another way is for Mr. De Valera and Mr. Collins to call off their gunmen, who have been imported into Belfast from Dublin and elsewhere.
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