intelligence and activity, who lend themselves to political agitation, and who seek to obtain the sanction of the Pope's authority towards the maintenance of hostile feelings against the British Government, and between the Protestants and Catholics of the United Kingdom. These men untruly assume to speak in the name of the entire hierarchy, and their statements have in consequence had an importance given them at Rome to which they are not entitled. It is probable that by this time the Pope has received certain resolutions against the colleges, and against the national system of education in the name of the archbishop and bishops of Ireland in Synod assembled; but these resolutions were not passed in Synod at all. Many of the prelates had left Dublin at the time they were framed, and even Archbishop Murray, who was in Dublin, never heard of or saw them till he read them in the newspapers, when he highly disapproved of them, and felt sure that many of his brethren would do the same. His example, among many that might be quoted, will show the unscrupulous character of certain prelates, and the necessity of receiving with caution any facts or opinions put forward by them. The best course for the Pope now to pursue is to remain entirely passive until he receives further and more correct information. He may rest assured that in the establishment of these colleges the British Government have had no other object than to supply the best possible education to the middle classes in Ireland, and, as a consequence of that object, to promote religion and morality among the students of different denominations alike. The British Government has no ulterior or sinister design, as has been most falsely asserted. It uses no disguise. The Lord Lieutenant has freely communicated with the Primate, and Archbishop Murray has received and acted upon their suggestions, and will communicate to them the statutes as soon as they are revised, and before they are definitively determined upon. It may perhaps be desirable, in whatever form Lord Minto shall think best, to let the Pope understand that the Roman Catholics of Ireland have neither the means nor disposition to establish at their own expense such seminaries as are recommended in the rescript, and that they can only be provided for out of the public funds. That a large proportion of the Roman Catholic laity are so convinced of the desirableness of these colleges, that nothing will prevent them from sending their sons there when once they are satisfied that religious instruction is duly provided for, and that if the opposition of Dr. McHale and LORD CLARENDON ON IRISH AFFAIRS. 49 others should unfortunately prove successful under the supposed sanction and authority of the Pope's name against the national system of education, by which four hundred thousand children are rescued from ignorance and its consequences, the large funds annually devoted to this object by the Legislature will probably fall under the exclusive management of the Protestants, by whom a large proportion of these children will be educated. For all who are acquainted with Ireland must be aware that not even the influence of the priesthood can check the uncontrollable desire for education that exists among the people. They will greatly prefer to receive it from Catholics, but, rather than forego its benefits, they will gladly accept it from Protestants. November 20, 1847. CLARENDON. F. O.: December 3, 1847. My dear Minto,-I send you a letter from Clarendon, the whole of which you may, I think, read to anybody with whom you are in communication on the part of the Pope. But you may safely go further than Clarendon has chosen to do, and you may confidently assure the Papal authorities that at present, in Ireland, misconduct is the rule, and good conduct the exception, in the Catholic priests. That they, in a multitude of cases, are the open, and fearless, and shameless instigators to disorder, to violence, and murder, and that every day and every week the better conducted, who are by constitution of human nature the most quiet and timid, are being scared by their fellow-priests, as well as by their flocks, from a perseverance in any efforts to give good counsel and to restrain violence and crime. Major Mahon, who was shot the other day, was denounced by his priest at the altar the Sunday before be was murdered. He might have been murdered all the same if the priest had not denounced him, but that denunciation of course made all the people in the neighbourhood think the deed a holy one instead of a diabolical one. The irritation and exasperation thence growing up in the public mind against the Catholic priesthood is extreme, and scarcely anybody now talks of these Irish murders without uttering a fervent wish that a dozen priests might be hung forthwith, and the most effectual remedy which has been suggested, and which seems the most popular, is that whenever a man is murdered in Ireland the priest of the parish should be transported. In the meanwhile I begin to doubt whether it would be VOL. II. prudent at present to bring in our proposed Bill for Legalising Extract from Letter of Earl of Clarendon, dated V. R. Lodge, McHale is a dangerous demagogue, whose proceedings as a citizen, and irrespective of their ecclesiastical indecorum, no Government in the world but ours would tolerate. Political agitation, popular elections, and inflammatory publications are his favourite pursuits. His object seems to be to set the people against their rulers; and if he could have his way their ignorance and their turbulence would be perpetual, and throughout his province those priests have the greatest share of his favour who most promote his sinister designs. The majority of the bishops dislike his proceedings and his character, but they succumb because he is audacious and overbearing, and they are afraid of making public the grave dissensions that exist among the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Such a man, however, and such a bitter opponent of the British Government and the true interests of Ireland, is not an adviser upon whom the Pope should rely. With respect to the priests, I must again repeat that, as a ACTION OF DR. MCHALE. 51 body, there is not in the world a more zealous, faithful, hardworking clergy, and most of the older priests are friendly to order, to education, and to the general improvement of the people. There are, however, some unfortunate exceptions, but it is among the younger clergy, the curates and coadjutors, that the real mischief-makers are to be found, and if they could be held in check, great scandal to religion and social order would be prevented. Things, however, cannot much longer go on in their present state: the duty of a Government towards the peaceable and well-disposed portions of the community will render special legislation necessary for a state of things which has become intolerable, if the existing laws should become insufficient, and if the timely exercise of spiritual authority be much longer withheld. There are at this moment numerous cases in which, if evidence could be procured, a prosecution could be sustained against priests as accessories to atrocious crimes, by the inciting language they have held to people over whose minds they exercise an absolute control. I have endeavoured to procure such evidence, because it is the duty of Government to punish misconduct that tends to the disruption of every social tie, and in the administration of the law no distinction of persons can be admitted; but such evidence in an available form is not to be procured. From different parts of the country, and from persons upon whose veracity I can confide, I hear either that a landlord has been denounced by name from the altar, in a manner which is equivalent to his death-warrant, or that persons giving evidence against criminals are held up as public enemies and traitors, or that people are advised to assemble in mobs and enforce their demands upon individuals. It was only yesterday that I heard of a priest (in the diocese of Dr. McHale) addressing a man in the chapel, and telling him that he would not curse him, because the last man he had cursed died directly, but that before the blossom fell from the potato he would be a corpse. This man's offence was having given evidence in a court of justice against a party that had broken into his house and robbed him. I have sworn depositions now lying on my table in proof of acts of this kind, but the deponents dare not come forward and openly give their evidence, for they say-and I know it to be true that their lives would not be worth four-and-twenty hours' purchase. Indeed, to prevent any misunderstanding upon the subject, the priest usually defies any person to give information of what he has been saying, and warns them of the consequences. The result of all this is, not only that crime is encouraged, but that the priesthood must fall into contempt, and that the wholesome restraint and humanising influence of religion will decline; that the people will become more barbarous; and that the clergy, to maintain their position, must still pander to the passions of their flocks. In places-and there are many—where a priest friendly to order and anxious for the real welfare of his people has given good advice, and intimated that among those present in the chapel there were some who had been guilty of such and such crimes, the individuals alluded to will come forward and bid him hold his tongue, and threaten him with vengeance if he proceeds. I could multiply facts and details ad infinitum, for every day some fresh ones come to my knowledge, but the above are sufficient to exhibit the state of things in certain parts of Ireland, and all its evil tendencies; for wherever the priests so misconduct themselves, there the people are always found to be the most turbulent and wretched. The indignation, and I may add shame, of the respectable Roman Catholic classes are extreme: they consider that the course pursued by these unruly priests is calculated to give a false impression of their (the Roman Catholic) religion and their politics; to exasperate against them the entire Protestant people of England, and to check effectually any intentions on the part of the Government to place the two churches on a footing of equality. The Pope may well hesitate to believe in things the like of which exist in no other part of the world; but we don't ask him to take our words for them. He has himself proposed to send some person over here to examine and report, and I am sure that will be the best mode of proceeding, if any one sufficiently unprejudiced, and likely to resist the evil influences by which he will be surrounded immediately on his arrival, can be found to undertake the mission. He should not come in any public capacity, or with pomp and circumstance, but privately, and with instructions whom he should consult, and with powers to act, but not to go beyond the sphere of spiritual jurisdiction. The Primate and Archbishop Murray, and some of the metropolitan clergy, who well understand the interests of their Church, and are acquainted with all that is going on in the country, would be safe guides; and I feel sure that a Papal prohibition to take part in political agitations, and to make use of the |