Against Home Rule | Page 7

of its being an
intolerant and aggressive organisation. All Protestants in Ireland feel
deep respect for much of the work which is carried on by the Roman
Catholic Church in Ireland. They gladly acknowledge the influence of
its priesthood in maintaining and upholding the traditional morality and
purity of the Irish race. They venerate the memories of those brave Irish
priests who defied persecution in order to bring succour to their flocks
in time of need. But they are bound to deal with the present political
situation as they find it. They are determined that no Church, however
admirable, and no creed, however lofty, should be forced upon them
against their wills. There is a dark side to the picture, on which it is
unnecessary to dwell. We have only to ask the Nonconformists of
England what would be their feelings were a Roman Catholic majority
returned to the British House of Commons.

In most of the articles in this book which deal with the religious
question; special stress is laid upon recent Papal legislation. The _Ne
Temere and the Motu Proprio_ decrees have constituted an invasion of
the rights hitherto enjoyed by the minority in Ireland, and they are even
more significant as an illustration of the policy of the Roman curia.
Those who have watched the steady increase of Roman aggression in
every Roman Catholic country, followed as it has been by passionate
protest and determined action by the civil Governments, must realise
the danger which Home Rule would bring to the faith and liberty of the
people of Ireland. It is not inconsistent to urge, as many of us have
urged, that Home Rule would mean alike a danger to the Protestant
faith and a menace to Catholic power. The immediate result of
successful Papal interference with civil liberties in every land has been
a sweeping movement among the people which has been, not Protestant,
but anti-Christian in its nature. If we fear the tyranny which the Roman
Catholic Church has established under British rule in Malta and in
Quebec, may we not fear also the reaction from such tyranny which has
already taken place in France and Portugal.
But we are told that there are to be in the new Home Rule Bill
safeguards which will protect the minority from any interference with
their civil and religious liberties. It is not necessary for me to go over
again in detail the ground which is so admirably covered by Mr.
George Cave and Mr. James Campbell. They show clearly that the
existence of restrictions and limitations upon the activities of a Dublin
Parliament, whether they are primarily intended to safeguard the British
connection or to protect the liberties of minorities, cannot be worth the
paper on which they are printed. Let us take, for instance, an attempt to
prevent the marriages of Irish Protestants from being invalidated by an
Irish Parliament. We may point out that an amendment to the 1893
Home Rule Bill, designed to safeguard such marriages, was rejected by
the vote of the Irish Nationalist party. But even were legislation
affecting the marriage laws of the minority to be placed outside the
control of a Dublin Parliament, the effect would not be to reassure the
Protestant community. Mr. James Campbell mentions a case which has
profoundly stirred the Puritan feelings of Irish Protestantism. A man
charged with bigamy has been released without punishment because the

first marriage, although in conformity with the law of the land, was not
recognised by the Roman Catholic Church. However justifiable that
course may have been in the exceptional circumstances of that
particular case, the precedent obviously prepares the way for a practical
reversal of the law by executive or judicial action. We must remember
that, since the Ne Temere decree has come into force, the marriages of
Protestants and Roman Catholics are held by the Roman Catholic
Church to be absolutely null and void unless they are celebrated in a
Roman Catholic Church. We have also to bear in mind that these
marriages will not be permitted by the priesthood except under
conditions which many Irish Protestants consider humiliating and
impossible. No more deadly attack upon the faith of the Protestant
minority in the three provinces in Ireland can be imagined than to make
a denial of their faith the essential condition to the enjoyment of the
highest happiness for which they may look upon this earth.
The second decree prohibits, under pain of excommunication, any
Roman Catholic from bringing an ecclesiastical officer before a Court
of Justice. Even under the Union Government this decree is a danger to
the liberty of the subject. Under an independent Irish Government,
nothing except that vast anti-clerical revolution which some people
foresee could possibly reassure the people as to the attitude of the