Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

HISTORICAL ADDRESS

ON THE CALAMITIES OCCASIONED BY

Foreign Influence,

IN THE NOMINATION OF BISHOPS TO

IRISH SEES.

By the Rev. C. O'CONOR, D. D.

"Il faut dire la veritè tout entiere."-Fleury Disc. 4me. No. xiii.

"Quod Episcopi nos tradiderint, non est Ratio sed Conjuratio.”— That the Bishops have betrayed us, is not the result of calm Canonical Discussion, but of a treacherous Conspiracy.

S. JEROM TO DOMNIO.

HISTORICAL ADDRESS, &c.

1.

I. Flattery and prejudices how dangerous.

HE who loses sight either of those events

which mask, or of those which mark, the views, and distinguish the principles, of contending sects, and overlooks their influence on the feelings and the interests of society, wanders from the true object of History. He may compile facts as an Annalist, or he may inflame the angry passions as an Agitator, or he may substitute the results of human actions for their motives, holding out consequences which never were intended for the intentions themselves; but he cannot write History.

2. Much of this superficial and declamatory jargon offends the judgment of impartial readers,

B

in the ill-digested compilations of some who have, within these latter years, obtruded on the public as Tourists and Historians of our native country; but upon this subject it is invidious. to dwell; and therefore I confine myself for the present to a protest against implicit confidence in any Party Historians, until the whole truth is fairly canvassed, and original documents are unreservedly obtained.-I am far from despising popular opinions, and it would ill become me to treat with disrespect those of my own country. But breathes there an Irishman, possessed of an Irish heart, who can help feeling indignant, when he sees the generous spirit of the Gentry and Clergy of Ireland abused by a breach. of confidence; the people misled by a cry of Religion, which is destructive of Religion; the Liberties of the Gallican Church denied to Ireland by her own Bishops; exclusive right of discussing, and adopting, or rejecting all matters touching faith and discipline, claimed by twenty-six self-appointing arbiters for four millions of people; our dioceses disposed of by testamentary bequests, or by private intrigues;

and all this styled "the holy independence of our Hierarchy," and attempted to be imposed upon us as Catholic by the intrigues of the artful, and the flattery of the designing?

Can the Irish nation expect to find honest writers if she will hear those only who flatter her passions, or pander for her approbation ?* Will she not consider that that man's courage must be honest, who dares to forfeit the favour of his friends? that he who writes for his country must divest himself of its prejudices; that he must consider right and wrong in their invariable state, content himself with the slow progress of his name, and commit his conscious virtue to the justice of posterity.

Arguing very consequentially from a supposed stubborn disposition on the part of the Irish. to shut their ears and eyes to all reasoning and to all facts, the B- of Castabala assures me in a late Pamphlet, which might better be intitled any thing than an Elucidation of the Veto, p. 11, that " my book "(meaning Columbanus ad Hibernos) will do little harm in "Ireland, because it will be little read there."-It might be supposed from the confidence of this assertion, that he is sufficiently acquainted with the character of the Irish people. But though he has travelled from Dublin to Cork and back again, I find him a Stranger to Ireland, for my book, as he calls it, whatever harm it may have caused to his Ultramontanism, has had in Ireland a rapid sale.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »