It  cannot  be  forgotten  that  Roman  Catholic
Bishops,  as  a  body,  are  intolerant  of  all  who  reject
their  authority,  and,  furthermore,  that  although  the
Irish  people  are,  by  nature,  brave  and  generous  and
lovers  of  freedom — as  the  hottest  Orangeman  will
admit — yet  they  are,  as  the  Jesuit  Campion  knew
so  well,  "  ready  to  believe  whatsoever  is,  with  any
countenance  of  gravity,  affirmed  by  their  superiors."

To  say  that  the  party  strife  and  bitterness,  which
are  so  destructive  of  happiness  and  prosperity  in
Ireland,  are  due  to  political  considerations,  is  the
merest  fiction.  No  sensible  person  would  object
to  a  wise  and  just  law,  well  and  fairly  administered,
on  the  sole  ground  that  it  was  made  in  Dublin  instead
of  Westminster.  The  records  of  from  1782  to  1800
A.D.  are  ample  proof  that  Home  Rule*  is  not,  in
principle,  hostile  to  the  religion  of  Protestants.
*  In  1493,  as  the  result  of  an  inquiry  made  by  King  Henry  VII.
