Galway In Days Gone By

1920

Cardinal’s condemnation

His Eminence Cardinal Logue has issued a Pastoral Letter in which he denounces competition in murder between miscalled patriots and the forces of the Crown.

His eminence, referring to the tragedies in Dublin, says the assassination of individuals is a terrible crime, and an outrage against God’s law.

It is a greater shock to humanity and a graver outrage against the divine ordinance to turn lethal weapons against an unarmed, closely-packed multitude, reckless of the lives of innocent people who may fall victims.

His Eminence refers in strong terms to the action of the forces in Ireland, and declares that no path of lies can screen or conceal the guilt of their proceedings. He solemnly appeals to his flock to avoid action which would bring them into conflict with God’s law.

His Eminence adds that if the people appeal to God with full earnestness and perseverance for the spiritual and temporal wants of their country, they may rest assured that the appeal will not be made in vain.

Bitter fruits

In the horrors through which Ireland is passing to-day we are witnessing the bitter fruits of government by minority. Had the Cabinet of Britain the wisdom and foresight to perceive that an effort to impose the will of North-East Ulster upon the overwhelming majority of the Irish people must inevitably result in disaster, the terrible tale of these tragic days might never have been written.

As it is, the failure to ensure that a peaceable constitution should run without trammel or hindrance in Ireland has cost the British Government as much as did the South African war.

Yet the present Premier had once to escape from the Birmingham Town Hall disguised as a policeman because he denounced that war, and his one-time chief, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, granted a full measure of freedom to the Boer whilst yet he held the smoking rifle in his hands.

The results of that enlightened policy have been mutually satisfactory to the two peoples. Yet South Africa had an “Ulster” question, as had Canada. The difference was that the recalcitrant in these lands had not the ear of Cabinet leaders.

If to-day Ireland stands in unhappy contrast, the real blame lies with those who have stifled statesmanship and imposed the disastrous substitute of a miserable provincial expediency.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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