In the United States alone, and among Catholics alone, it is "the people," the poor, who have taken and been able to take this matter into their own hands.
That they—the Irish particularly—have done this, redounds to their honor, and it will receive its reward from God; nay, has already in a great measure received it, by filling the land with the temples of their faith, with schools where their children are still taught to believe in God and grow up a moral race, and with the various Catholic asylums and institutions established for the glory of religion, or the comfort of those who are comfortless. That they have been able to do this is owing to the unique, exceptional, marvellous prosperity of the country which offered them an asylum. And let us add with reverence that the country owes this singular prosperity, which has been the source of so many blessings, to the designs of a loving Providence, who looks to the welfare of the whole of mankind, and has therefore endowed this young and gigantic nation with the necessary qualities of energy, activity, "go-aheaditiveness," as it is called, added to the fixed principle that every individual throughout these vast domains shall enjoy liberty, facility of acquiring a competency, and the right to make what use of it he pleases, as well as generosity enough to applaud the one who devotes his surplus earnings to useful public undertakings.
In no other country of the world has this been the case, and in no other country is it the case at the present moment. And, as the fact is mighty in its results, unprepared by man, unlooked for a hundred years ago, requiring for its fulfilment a thousand agencies far beyond the control of any man or inferior mind, following the line of reasoning previously indicated, we ascribe, are constrained to ascribe, it all to the great infinite Mind, to God himself, and to him alone!
And now we turn to the workings of the Irish, and to a consideration of a few of the details. The first crying need was churches and orphan asylums: churches for the all-important worship of God; orphan asylums to receive the numbers of children left homeless by the death of immigrants soon after their arrival, and who were immediately snatched up by the proselytizing sects.
The style of architecture displayed in those first temples of the great God was homely indeed and humble. Nevertheless, it might favorably compare with similar buildings erected by wealthy Protestant congregations. This fact alone is sufficient to convict Protestantism of want of faith, namely, that its adherents have never been struck by the thought that the majesty of God, if really felt, calls for a profusion of gifts on the part of those who have superabundant means. Not that man can by his feeble exertions in that regard give adequate honor to the divine Omnipotence, but that love and gratitude are naturally profuse in their demonstrations, and whoever loves ardently is ever ready to give all he has for the object of his love, even to the sacrifice of himself. The reflection that God is too great, and that it is useless, even presumptuous, to offer to him what must seem so infinitely mean in the light of his greatness, is but the flimsy pretext of an avaricious soul, and can be nothing but a lie, even in the eyes of those who utter it. From the beginning all truly religious nations have endeavored to make their external worship correspond with their internal feeling, and give expression, as far as man can do, to their idea of the worth and majesty of God; and that thought is a true measure of a religion; for, when the external is but a cold and sordid worship, we may be sure that the internal corresponds; and, when little or nothing is done in that way, it is clear that the heart feels not, and the mind is empty of true convictions and of faith.
And what has been the invariable conduct of Protestant nations in this regard? They became possessed of splendid churches built by their Catholic ancestors, and, after stripping them of all their beauty, they retained them as "preaching-halls" or "meeting- houses." The number of those who remained attached to a frigid and unattractive service gradually diminished; the edifices were found to be too large, and in many instances what had been the sanctuary, where art had exhausted itself in embellishment, partitioned off from the rest of the church, was kept for their dwindling congregations, while the vast aisles and roomy naves went slowly to ruin, or became deserted solitudes. As for the idea of building new religious edifices, the old ones were already too numerous for them, or if, as was not unfrequent, a new sect started into spasmodic life, and its votaries found it necessary to open a new "place of worship," the temple they erected to God generally took the form of a hired hall. Let the floor be carpeted and the benches covered with soft, slumber-inviting cushions, the room wear a general air and aspect of comfort, the "acoustics" duly considered, so that the voice of the preacher might reach to the door and half- way to the galleries, and nothing more was required. The man who asked for something more solemn, and answering better to the cravings of a religious heart, would be laughed at as a visionary, if his person did not distil, to the keen-scented organs of these religious folk, a strong flavor of "popery " and of "the man of sin."
So that in the United States at the time spoken of, although the number of churches was extraordinary, because of the number of sects, they were mere shells of buildings, capable of accommodating from three to eight hundred people (very few of the latter capacity); and, although many of the members of the congregations who built them were rich men, adding to their wealth daily, one seldom encountered any of the structures, then common, showing much more than four walls, enclosing four lines of clumsy pews.
Consequently, the Catholic Church had no reason to blush by comparison at the poverty of her children; nay, the extreme simplicity of the edifices raised by them was in keeping with every thing around, and what they did in the hurry of the moment, with the scanty means at their disposal, at least might vie with what wealthy Protestants had done deliberately with all the leisure and wealth at their command.
Already, even at that epoch, in the centre of Catholicity in this country, the love of the true worshipper of God began to display something of that feeling which is naturally alive in the heart of the sincerely religious man; and the Cathedral of Baltimore, long since left so far behind by other monuments of true devotion, created throughout the country a genuine excitement and admiration, when its doors were first opened for the worship of God. It was clear, from the universal acclaim of the people, non-Catholics included, that at least one class of men in the country had a true idea of what was worthy of God in his worship, and what was worthy of themselves in their worship of him.
But, though, with some rare exceptions, the architecture displayed in those edifices constructed by the children of the true Church was poor indeed, the number of those which were commenced and so speedily completed and devoted to their holy use was so extraordinary, that it is doubtful if the annals of Catholicity have ever recorded the same thing occurring on the same scale, in the same extent of country. If the ecclesiastical history of the United States ever comes to be written, it is to be hoped that, in the archives of the various episcopal sees, authentic documents have been preserved, which may furnish future writers with comprehensive statistics on the subject, that the posterity of the noble-hearted men and women who undertook and carried out, with such a wonderful success, so arduous a task, may be stimulated to religious exertion of the same kind by the memory of what their forefathers have accomplished. The reflection already suggested by another idea may serve here likewise, and be usefully repeated. If, in the course of twenty-five years, over the surface of at least ten of the largest Northern States, every clergyman who, at the beginning of that period, officiated in a very small church, is, to-day, supposing him living, gladdened by the sight of ten to twenty collaborators, with a corresponding number of newly-built churches, it is easy to judge of the vastness of the effort made by the greatness of the undertaking and the unexampled success with which God has been pleased to crown it. The other States of the Union are omitted here, not because the Catholics residing in them were then idle, but because, their growth being less remarkable, the external result could not be so striking. Nevertheless, the actual increase among them would compare favorably with that of other growing Catholic countries.
Could details, at this present time, only be gathered from all the States, in the area referred to, the vast diffusion of Catholicity by the influence of immigration would come home to us with far greater force, as would the conception of the corresponding work demanded of the immigrants for the creation of all the objects of worship, charity, and education. Let the reader look to what is related in the "Life of Bishop Loras," who was at that time charged with the founding of religion in Iowa and Minnesota. It will at the same time bring under our notice the march of the Irish toward the West, after having seen them solidly established in the Atlantic States.
"He was consecrated at Mobile by Bishop Portier, assisted by Bishop Blanc, of New Orleans, on December 10, 1837. His diocese was a vast region unknown to him. The unfinished Church of St. Raphael, at Dubuque, was the only Catholic church in the Territory, and the Rev. Sam. Mazzuchelli, its pastor, was the only Catholic priest. The Catholic population of Dubuque was about three hundred. . . . But there must be, thought the new bishop, some members of the flock in distant, isolated, and unfrequented localities, who were in danger of wandering from the faith; besides, the future waves of population would certainly set in toward this fine expanse of meadow, prairie, and forest. . . . With prudent foresight he purchased land . . . . three acres at Dubuque; later, St. Joseph's Prairie, one mile square, near the same city. . . . A valuable property was acquired in Davenport, on the Mississippi, with the view of applying the revenue from it to the support of the missions.
"To his regret he saw large numbers of the European immigrants tarrying in the Atlantic cities, where want, sickness, and crime, beset their path, and he became deeply interested in giving to this worth population the more healthful and vigorous direction of the West. . . . Articles were prepared and published, setting forth the attractions of the country. . . . An immense correspondence, with persons in this country and in Europe, resulted from the well-known interest Bishop Loras took in these subjects. . . . He undertook the settlement of colonies. . . . Germans in New Vienna, in 1846 . . . Irish on the Big-Maquokety. . . . He organized them in congregations and commenced in person the work of building for them churches. . . . establishing schools and academies, laboring for the temporal and eternal welfare of the people."
Thus did the tide of Catholic population begin to flow into Iowa and Minnesota, to be brought under the influence of the Church as soon as it arrived.
Meanwhile associations were being formed in the East, in New York chiefly, for the purpose of inducing Irishmen to go west as far as Illinois, and the Territories west of the Mississippi. Several zealous clergymen placed themselves at the head of the movement. Their main object was to rescue the Catholic immigrants from the dangers surrounding them in large cities, and to make farmers of them. We have seen why these plans, though prompted by the best intentions, failed to succeed; their immediate effect was to give a fresh impetus to the great movement westward, and, by relieving the Atlantic coast of a sudden excess of population, to extend the Church along the line marked out by Providence toward the coast of the Pacific.
At the same time, on the very shores of that vast ocean, California was receiving directly from Europe large detachments of the voluntary exiles who were then leaving Ireland in a compact body in the full tide of the "Exodus." The Catholic Church was thus early taking up a commanding position at the extreme point whither the main "army" was tending, and soon to arrive with the completion of the great Pacific Railroad.
The following extract, taken from the "Life of Bishop Loras," will be sufficient to give an idea of the rapid increase of the Catholic population in the West, in consequence of the workings of so many agencies employed by God's providence for his own holy ends:
"In 1855, the Catholic population of Iowa increased one hundred and fifty per centum in a single year. It seems almost incredible to relate, that the churches and stations, provided for their accommodation, increased in the same time nearly one hundred per centum. The Catholic population reported in 1855 was twenty thousand, and the churches and stations fifty-two; the Catholic population in 1856 was rated at forty-nine thousand, and the churches and stations at ninety-seven.
"Bishop Loras commenced his episcopate (in 1837) with one church, one priest, and the only Catholic population reported, that of Dubuque, was three hundred. In 1851, Minnesota was taken from his diocese, yet in 1858, the year of his death, the diocese of Dubuque alone possessed one hundred and seven priests, one hundred and two churches and stations, and a Catholic population of fifty-five thousand."
There can be little doubt that, if similar statistics were drawn up for all the Western States of the Union during a corresponding period, they would give very similar results; and it is only by reflecting and pondering over such astonishing facts as these, that the mind can come to grasp the idea of the magnitude of the work assigned by Providence to the Irish race. This, we have no hesitation in saying, will form one of the most remarkable features of the future ecclesiastical history of the age, and will appear the more clearly when all the consequences of this stupendous movement shall stand out fully developed, so as to strike the eyes of all.
It may be well to reflect a moment upon the activity displayed by that zealous hive of busy immigrants, who, soon after landing, when the thoughts of other men would have been exclusively and, as men would think, naturally, occupied by the thousand necessities arising from a new establishment on a foreign soil— while not neglecting those necessities—found time to enter heart and soul into projects set on foot everywhere for buying up landed property, making contracts with builders, supervising the work already going on, attending above all to the collection of money, forming lists of subscribers to that end, visiting round about for the same purpose, and attending to the fulfilment of promises sometimes made too hastily, or with too sanguine an expectation of being able to accomplish what in the future was never realized to the extent expected.
But, much sooner than might have been hoped, the desire, so congenial to the Catholic heart, of beholding more suitable dwellings erected to the honor of God and to the reception of his Divine presence, was fulfilled, or aroused, rather, in a quarter least expected, and consequently more in accordance with the (to man) mysterious ways of Providence. The sudden increase of the Church in England, in consequence of remarkable conversions and principally of the little-remarked flow of emigrants thither from the sister isle, induced some pious and wealthy English Catholics, now that they found themselves free to follow their inclinations unmolested, to devote their means to the construction of churches worthy of the name. The splendid structures, now the lifeless monuments of the old faith, which their fathers had raised, rested in the hands of the spoiler, and they could not worship, save privately and inwardly, at the shrine of Thomas of Canterbury, or before the tomb of Edward the Confessor. Yet were their eyes ever afflicted with the presence of those noble edifices, that resembled the solemn tombs of a buried faith, yet still cast their lofty spires heavenward, while the structure beneath them covered acres of ground with the most profuse and elaborate architecture. They looked around them for a builder, who might raise them such again. But there was none to be found capable of conceiving, much less building such vast fabrics as the old churches, which owed their existence not to the ingenuity of a designer, but to the inspired enthusiasm of a living faith. Nevertheless, a man, full of energy and reverence and love for the beauty of the house of God, came forward at the very moment he was wanted. Welby Pugin soon became known to the world, and was still in the full vigor of his enterprising life, when all over the American Continent the immigrants were engaged in satisfying the first cravings of their hearts, and covering the country with unpretending edifices crowned, at least, by the symbol of salvation. Among them arrived pupils of Pugin, who speedily found Irish hearts to respond to theirs, and Irish purses ready to carry their designs into execution.
There is no need of going into details. Puritan New England even has seen its chief cities one by one adorned with true temples of God, and its small towns embellished by stone edifices devoted to Catholic worship, their form pleasing to the eye, and their interior spacious enough, at least temporarily, for the constantly-increasing congregations. But perhaps the most remarkable result of all has been the sudden zeal which sprang up among the sectarians themselves, who had hitherto expressed such contempt for any thing of the kind, of outstripping the Catholics in Christian architecture. They have even gone so far as to discover that the cross, the emblem of man's salvation, is not such a very inappropriate ornament, after all, to the summit of a Christian temple, and that the statues of angels and of saints are possessed of a certain beauty. So that what in their eyes hitherto had borne the semblance of idolatry—such, according to themselves, was their way of looking at it— suddenly became an aesthetic feeling, if not an act of true devotion.
And, singularly enough, it was just at the time when the erection of so many episcopal sees necessitated the building of cathedrals, that the thought, natural to the Catholic heart, of making the house of God a place of beauty and magnificence, could begin to be realized by the arrival of true artists and the increasing wealth of the Catholic body.
It is in the true Church only that the meaning of a cathedral can be fully grasped. Those sects which acknowledge no bishops and deride the title certainly can form no conception of it, and even those who imagine that they have a bishop at their head, have so little idea of what are true episcopal functions, of the greatness of the position which a see occupies, of the importance of the place where it is established, that in their eyes the pretended dignitary can scarcely rank much higher, either in position or degree, than a wealthy parish minister, and the church wherein "his lordship" officiates is very much the same as an ordinary parish church. If in England a show of dignitaries is attached to each of those establishments, it is merely a form well calculated to impress the solemn Anglo-Saxon character; but even that very form would scarcely have existed were it not one of those few semblances of the Catholic reality which the wily founders of the Protestant religion found it convenient to retain for the purpose hinted at. The Catholic Church alone can understand what a cathedral ought to be.
This is not the occasion to enter upon an explanation of all the meanings and uses of a cathedral, least of all to penetrate the sublime mystical significance embodied in its conception. Here it is enough to insist upon the least important, yet most sensible and more easily-recognized object of the building, which is, not simply the seat of honor of the first pastor of the diocese, who is a successor of the apostles, but likewise the place of adoration and sacrifice common to all the faithful of the diocese. Strictly speaking, no special congregation is attached to it; but it is the spiritual home of all the faithful; its doors are open to all the congregations of that part. There the common father resides and officiates; there his voice is generally to be heard; there he is to be found surrounded by all those whose duty it is to assist him in his sublime functions. When he appears in any parish church, the clergy of that special temple are his only attendants, unless others flock thither to do him honor. But the cathedral is his fixed seat and permanent abode; there the appointed dignitaries of the diocese find their allotted places, and there alone are his officers permanently attached to him by their functions.
Hence it is the cardinal church upon which the whole spiritual edifice called the diocese is hinged. Therefore is it the natural resort of the whole flock, as well as of the pastor himself. This will explain the vastness of those edifices which strike us with wonder in old established Catholic countries. In accordance with their primitive intention and purpose, there should be in them standing and kneeling room for all who have a right to enter there; and it is purely on account of the impossibility of exactly fulfilling this intent that the edifice is allowed to be built smaller. We are thus enabled to understand why the great temple which is the centre-spot of Catholic worship can contain only fifty thousand worshippers at a time, and why many other sacred edifices consecrated to episcopal functions can find room for no more than twenty or thirty thousand.
But even those structures, which strike with wonder the puny minds of this "advanced" age, have consumed centuries in their construction, and the number and the faith of those who raised them were, we may say, exceptional in the life of the Church. There were no dissenters in those days; and, as all were possessed of a firm faith, all labored with a common will and contributed with a common pleasure to their construction.
Times having changed for the worse, the same ardor and generosity could not be looked for; but something at least was required which should give some idea of the old, splendor and vastness. So, throughout all the new dioceses projects were set on foot for raising real cathedrals, which should quite overshadow the buildings hitherto known by that name.
Thus, a cathedral was promised to New York City, three hundred and thirty feet in length, and one hundred and seventy-two in breadth across the transept; while that of Philadelphia was soon completed, and all might gaze on the massive and majestic edifice, by the side of which every other public building in a city containing eight hundred thousand souls appeared dwarfish and unsubstantial. Boston was soon to behold within its walls a Catholic cathedral, three hundred and sixty-four feet long, and one hundred and forty broad in the transept, though the same diocese was already filled with large stone churches, built solely by the resources of the immigrants.
The Archbishop of New York, when preaching the sermon at the laying of the foundation-stone of this edifice in 1867, was able to say in the presence of many who might have borne personal testimony to the truth of his words: "There are those most probably within the sound of my voice who can remember when there was but one Catholic church in Boston, and when that sufficed, or had to suffice, not alone for this city, but for all New England; and how is it now? Churches and institutions multiplied, and daily continuing to multiply on every side, in this city, throughout this State, in all or nearly all the cities and States of New England; so that at this day no portion of our country is enriched with them in greater proportionate number, none where they have grown up to a more flourishing condition, none where finished with more artistic skill, or presenting monuments of more architectural taste and beauty."
Had any one predicted this to the good and gifted Bishop Cheverus, when leaving America for France, he might perhaps have not refused altogether to believe or hope for it, but he would certainly have pronounced it a real and undoubted miracle of God, to happen within a century.
But the Archbishop of New York, in that same sermon, pointed out the true cause, when he attributed it to "God's blessing," and to "the never-ceasing tide of immigration that has been and still continues to be setting toward the American shores."
The history of the Church certainly contains many a page where the traces of the finger of God are clearly marked; nay, we may say that such traces are apparent throughout, as we know that God alone could have originated, spread out, supported, multiplied, and perpetuated the Church through all the centuries of her existence; but it is doubtful if in all her annals a single page shows where the action of Providence is more clearly visible, as it was least expected, than in the few facts just cursorily and briefly enumerated.
Yet have we mentioned only a part of the work to which the poor immigrants were called to contribute immediately after their arrival, and at the vastness of which they never murmured nor lost heart, as though a greater burden had been laid upon them than human shoulders could endure.
The worship of God and the care of souls were the first things to be attended to, and, with these, other necessary objects were not to be neglected. There was the care of the poor, whom the Church of Christ was the first public body to think of relieving; the tending of the sick in hospitals, where their own clergy might not only have access, but where it should be made sure that the management be one of true Christian charity and tenderness; the orphan children, always so numerous under circumstances like those of the present, were to be saved from falling into the hands of sectarians, and being educated by them, as were formerly the Catholic wards, in hatred of their own faith, and of the customs, habits, and modes of thought of their ancestors. This last great and incalculable source of loss to the Church was to be put a stop to at once, if not completely— for that was then impossible—at least as perfectly as zeal, generosity, and true love of souls, could effect. All these works required money, an incalculable amount; as it was not in a single city, not in a small particular State, but throughout the whole Union, through as many cities as it contains, that the undertaking was to be straightway set on foot and simultaneously acted upon.
Nor was the question one of the erection of buildings merely, but also of the support of an immense number of inmates, and of their constant support without a single day's intermission. Who can calculate the sums required for such immediate and most pressing needs?
In a nation where Christianity has been long established, taxes imposed upon all for the constructing, repairing, maintaining, and carrying on so many and such large establishments are easily collected. For all are bound by law to contribute to such purposes, and the question generally reduces itself merely to a continuance of the support of institutions long standing, and which can be no longer in need of the large disbursements necessary at the first period of their existence. But here it was a question of providing, without any other law than that of love, without the help of any other tax-gatherer than the voluntary collector, for all those necessities at once, including the vast outlays requisite for the first establishment of those institutions, and imposing, by that very act, the necessity and duty of supporting forever all the inmates gathered together at the cost of so much care and expense, within those walls consecrated to religion and charity. The government had no share whatever in it; too happy were they at the government interposing no obstacle to its carrying out! That was all they asked for on its part—non-interference.
On this subject, Mr. Maguire remarks justly, without, however, bringing the matter of expenditure into sufficient prominence:
"For the glorious Church of America many nations have done their part. The sacred seed first planted by the hand of the chivalrous Spaniard has been watered by the blood of the generous Gaul; to the infant mission the Englishman brought his steadfastness and resolution, the Scotchman, in the northeast, his quiet firmness, . . . the Irishman his faith, the ardor of his faith. And, as time rolled on, and wave after wave of immigration brought with it more and more of the precious life- blood of Europe, from no country was there a richer contribution of piety and zeal, of devotion and self-sacrifice, than from that advanced outpost of the Old World, whose western shores first break the fury of the Atlantic; to whose people Providence appears to have assigned a destiny grand and heroic—of carrying the civilization of the Cross to remote lands and distant nations. What Ireland has done for the American Church, every bishop, every priest, can tell. Throughout the vast extent of the Union there is scarcely a church, an academy, a hospital, or a refuge, in which the piety, the learning, the zeal, the self- sacrifice, of the Irish—of the priest or the professor, of the Sisters of every order or denomination—are not to be traced; there is scarcely an ecclesiastical seminary for English- speaking students in which the great majority of those now preparing for the service of the sanctuary do not belong, if not by birth, at least by blood, to that historic land to which the grateful Church of past ages accorded the proud title, Insula Sanctorum."
To this may be added the remark that it is still further beyond doubt that all the establishments mentioned, almost without one exception, owe their existence, at least partially, and very often entirely, to the generous and never-failing contributions of the Irish.
The Rev. C. G. White, in his "Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Catholic Church in the United States of America," which is appended to the translation of Darras's "History of the Catholic Church," says still more positively:
"In recording this consoling advancement of Catholicity throughout the United States, especially in the North and West, justice requires us to state that it is owing in a great measure to the faith, zeal, and generosity of the Irish people who have immigrated to these shores, and their descendants. We are far from wishing to detract from the merit of other nationalities; but the vast influence which the Irish population has exerted in extending the domain of the Church is well deserving of notice, because it conveys a very instructive lesson. The wonderful history of the Irish nation has always forced upon us the conviction that, like the chosen generation of Abraham (previous to their rejection of the Messiah, of course), they were destined, in the designs of Providence, to a special mission for the preservation and propagation of the true faith. This faith, so pure, so lovely, so generous, displays itself in every region of the globe. To its vitality and energy must we attribute, to a very great extent, the rapid increase in the number of churches and other institutions which have sprung up and are still springing up in the United States, and to the same source are the clergy mainly indebted for their support in the exercise of their pastoral ministry. It cannot be denied, and we bear a cheerful testimony to the fact, that hundreds of clergymen, who are laboring for the salvation of souls, would starve, and their efforts for the cause of religion would be in vain, but for the generous aid they receive from the children of Erin, who know, for the most part, how to appreciate the benefits of religion, and who therefore joyfully contribute of their worldly means to purchase the spiritual blessings which the Church dispenses."
To this we may add that what Mr. White so expressly states of the generous support given by the Irish people to the clergy is equally true when extended to the thousand inmates of orphan asylums, reformatories, schools, convents, and of all the charitable institutions generally which are specially fostered by the Church for the common good of humanity. To quote only one fact recorded in a note to Mr. Maguire's book, a Sister of Mercy tells us what the Irish working-class has done for the order in Cincinnati: "The convent, schools, and House of Mercy, in which the good works of our Institute are progressing, were purchased in 1861 at a considerable outlay. This, together with the repairs, alterations, furnishing, etc., was defrayed by the working-class of Irish people, who have been and are to us most devoted, and by their generosity have enabled us up to the present time to carry out successfully our works of mercy and charity."
It may be stated, without fear of contradiction, that the same thing might be asserted by the superior of almost every Catholic establishment in the country, were an opportunity afforded them of coming forward in like manner.
All this is well known to those who are in the least acquainted with the history and workings of those institutions; but very little noise is made about it, according to the rule of the Gospel which recommends us to do good in such a manner that "the left hand may not know what the right hand doeth." Nothing is more Christian than such silent approval, and the eternal reward, which must follow, is so overwhelmingly great that the applause of the world may well be disregarded. But as constant good offices are apt to beget indifference in those who benefit most by them, there are not wanting some good people who seem to labor under the impression that really the Irish deserve scarcely any thanks; that every thing which they do comes so naturally from them, it is only what one could expect as a matter of course, and that, it being nothing more, after all, than their simple duty, it becomes a very ordinary thing.
It may be superfluous to say that if all this was expected from them, and if it be, as it really is, after all only a very ordinary thing ontheirpart, this fact is precisely what makes them a most extraordinary people, as expectations of this nature which may be most natural are of that peculiar kind of "great expectations" magnificent in prospect, but very delusive in fact; and certainly they would not be looked for as a matter of course in any other nation. Let any one reflect on the few details here furnished, let him add others from his own information, and the whole thing will appear, as it truly is, most wonderful, and only to be explained by the great and merciful designs of God, as Dr. White has just indicated— designs intrusted on this occasion to faithful servants whose generous hearts and pure souls opened up to the mission intrusted to them, to its glorious fulfilment so far, and to a greater unfolding still in time to come.
In order to understand, as ought to be understood, more fully the weight of the burden they so cheerfully undertook to bear, a few reflections on the subject of religious and charitable institutions will not be considered out of place.
The Romans—those master-organizers, who reduced to a perfect system every branch of government, legislation, war, and religion—never abandoned, never intrusted to the initiative of the people, the care of providing the means for any thing which the state ought to supply. The public religious establishments were all endowed, the colleges of the priests enjoyed large revenues, and the expenses of worship were supplied from the same source. To the fisc in general belonged the duty of supporting the armories, the courts of law, and the large establishments provided for the comfort and instruction of the people, the baths, libraries, and regular amusements. The private munificence of emperors, great patricians, and conquerors, undertook to supply occasional shows of an extraordinary character in the theatres, amphitheatre, and the circus.
There was no room left for charity in the whole plan. Indeed, the meaning of that word was unknown to them; for it cannot be properly applied to the regular distribution of money or cereals to the plebs; as this was one of those generosities which are necessary, and was only practised in order to keep the lower orders of citizens in idle content and out of mischief, as you would a wild animal which you dare not chain: you must feed him. The really poor, the saves, the maimed, the helpless, were left to their hard fate, they being apparently unworthy of pity because they excited no fear.
Yet the system was fruitful in its results. As soon as Christianity was seated on the throne, nothing was easier than to transfer the immense sums contributed by regular funds, or which were the product of taxes, from one object to another; and thus the Christian clergy and churches were supported as had been the colleges and temples of the pagan priests, by the revenues derived from large estates attached to the various corporations. Thus did Constantine and his successors become the munificent benefactors of the Church in Rome and through-out the whole empire.
Meanwhile, the 11 collections of money" among the faithful, which were first organized, as we read in the epistles of the apostles, and afterward systematized still better in Rome under the first popes, soon grew into disuse, at least to the extent to which they once prevailed; the new charitable institutions, such as the care of the poor, of widows and orphans, being under- taken by the Church at large, while the expenses of the whole were defrayed by the revenues accruing from the donations of princes, or the bequests of wealthy Christians.
The consequence was that, throughout the whole Christian world, all religious, literary, and charitable institutions enjoyed large revenues, and there was no need of applying to the generosity of the common people for contributions.
After the successful invasion of the barbarians, the same system held good; and history records how richly endowed were the churches built, the monasteries founded, the universities and colleges opened, by the once ferocious Franks, Germans, or Northmen even, tamed and subdued by the precepts and practices of Christianity.
We know how the immense wealth, which had been devoted to such holy purposes by the wise generosity of rulers or rich nobles, became in course of time an eyesore and object of envy to the worldly, and that the chief incentive to the `~ Reformers" for doing their work of 11 reformation" thoroughly was the prospect of the golden harvest to be reaped by the destruction of the Catholic Church.
But the very large amounts required to satisfy the aspirations introduced into the heart of humanity, by the religion of Christ, may give us an adequate idea of what Christian civilization really costs. It is foolish to imagine a sane man really believing that those generous founders of pious institutions, who devote by gift or bequest, such large estates and revenues to the various
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We cannot afford to transfer any more of his experiences among the Irish. From all his accounts, they are the same in London as everywhere else, most firmly attached to Catholicity, and, as a general rule, most exemplary in the performance of their religious obligations.
It is fitting, however, to give the conclusion of a long description of what he saw among them while visiting them in the company of a clergyman: "The religious fervor of the people whom I saw was intense. At one house that I entered, the woman set me marvelling at the strength of her zeal, by showing me how she continued to have in her sitting-room a sanctuary to pray every night and morning, and even during the day when she felt weary and lonesome."
II. Passing from religion to morality, let us look at this writer again: "Only one-tenth, at the outside, of the couples living together and carrying on the costermongering trade (among the English) are married. . . . Of the rights of legitimate or illegitimate children, the English costermongers understand nothing, and account it a mere waste of money to go through the ceremony of wedlock, when a pair can live together, and be quite as well regarded by their fellows without it. The married women associate with the unmarried mothers of families without scruple. There is no honor attached to the married state and no shame to concubinage.
"As regards the fidelity of these women, I was assured that in any thing like good times they were rigidly faithful to their paramours; but that, in the worst pinch of poverty, a departure from this fidelity—if it provided a few meals or a fire—was not considered at all heinous."
Further details may be read in the book quoted from, which would scarcely come well in these pages, though quite appropriate to the most interesting work in which they appear. From the whole, it is only too clear that the class of people referred to is profoundly immoral and corrupt, their very poverty only hindering them from indulging in an excess of libertinism.
On the other hand, when Mr. Mayhew speaks of the street Irish in London, he is most emphatic in his praise of the purity of the women in particular, and the care of the parents in general to preserve the virtue of their daughters, in the midst of the frightful corruption ever under their eyes. The only remark he passes of a disparaging character is the following:
"I may here observe"—referring to the statement that Irish parents will not expose their daughters to the risk of what they consider corrupt influences—"that, when a young Irish womandoesbreak through the pale of chastity, she often becomes, as I was assured, one of the most violent and depraved of, perhaps, the most depraved class."
It is evident, from the mere form in which this phrase is put, that such a thing is of very rare occurrence, and that the violence and depravity spoken of offer all the stronger contrast to the general purity of the whole class, and are merely the result of the open and unreserved character of the race.
But the whole world knows that chastity is the rule, and perhaps the most special virtue of the Irish, a fact which their worst enemies have been compelled to confess. In this same work of Mr. Mayhew's a still more surprising fact than the last—for that is acknowledged by all—is brought into astonishing prominence; a fact opposed to the general opinion of their friends even, and yet supported by incontrovertible evidence. It relates to another contrast between the English and Irish costermongers on the score of temperance.
III. The result arrived at by his inquiries among liquor-dealers in that part of London inhabited by about equal numbers of both nationalities, Mr. Mayhew gives us as twenty to one in favor of the Irish with respect to the consumption of liquor. In most "independent," that is to say, "not impoverished" Irish families, water is the only beverage at dinner, with punch afterward; and estimating the number of teetotallers, among the English at three hundred, there are six hundred among the Irish, who constitute, it may be remembered, only one-third of the whole costermonger class, and those Irish teetotallers, having taken the pledge under the sanction of their priests, look upon it as a religious observance and keep it rigidly. The number of Irish teetotallers has been considerably increased since Mr. Mayhew made his returns, in consequence of the energetic crusade entered upon against drink by the zealous London clergy, under the powerful lead of Archbishop Manning.
It is true that an innkeeper told Mr. Mayhew that "he would rather have twenty poor Englishmen drunk in his tap-room than a couple of poor Irishmen, who will quarrel with anybody, and sometimes clear the room." But this remark, if it shows any thing, shows only how and why the Irish have obtained that reputation of being a nation of drunkards, which is slanderous and false.
IV. Yet another, and perhaps as surprising a result as any, is the contrast between both classes of people with respect to economy and foresight: The English street-sellers are found everywhere spending all their income in the satisfaction often of brutish appetites; the Irish, on the contrary, save their money, either for the purpose of transmitting it to their poor relatives in Ireland, or bringing up their children properly, or- -if they are young—to provide for their marriage-expenses and home. Such cares as these never seem to afflict the English costermonger. So strongly did Mr. Mayhew find these characteristics marked among the Irish, that he is at times inclined to accuse them of carrying them too far, even to the display of a sordid and parsimonious spirit. According to him, they apply to the various "unions," or to the parish, even when they have money, or sometimes go with wretched food, dwelling, or clothing, in order to have a small fund laid by, in case of any emergency arising.
But the general result of his observations is clear: that the Irish are most provident and far-seeing; a surprising statement, doubtless, to the generality of Mr. Mayhew's readers, but one which, after all, only accords with the testimony of many unexceptionable witnesses of their life in other countries. And, if in England, in London especially, they at times appear sordid in their economy, is not this the very natural result of the misery they had previously endured in their own impoverished land, and therefore a proof that, at least, they have profited by the terrible ordeals through which they were compelled to pass?
We have spoken only of the Irish in London; the same facts are most probably true of them in all the large cities of Great Britain. Unfortunately, Mr. Mayhew's most interesting work has found no imitators in other parts of the kingdom. F. Perraud's remarks, however, in his "Ireland under English Rule," extend almost over the whole country.
After giving his own experience, and that of many others whom he had consulted, or whose works he had read; after having set forth the dangers which beset the Irish in that (to them) "most foreign country"—England—and also the success which had attended the labors of many proselytizing agents among them, and even in some cases the progress of immorality in their midst resulting from the innumerable seductions to which they were exposed, a success and a progress which Mr. Mayhew's personal observation would lead us to think the good father has exaggerated, he concludes as follows:
"We must not overlook the fact that the Irish emigration to England and Scotland produces in many individual cases results which cannot be too deeply deplored.
"But there, also, as well as in America and Australia, through the economy of an admirable providence, God makes use of those Irish immigrants for the propagation and extension of the Catholic faith in the midst of English and Scotch Protestantism. What progress has not the Catholic religion made within the last thirty years in England? And might not the Catholics say to their separated brethren what Tertullian said to the Caesars of the third century: 'Our religion is but of yesterday; and behold, we fill your towns, your councils, your camps, your tribes, your decuriae, the palace, the senate, the forum . . . . You have persecuted us during centuries, and behold, we spring up afresh from the blood of martyrs!'
"At the beginning of the reign of George III., England and Scotland scarcely contained sixty thousand Catholics who had remained true to the faith of their fathers. Their number in 1821 was, according to the official census, five hundred thousand. In 1842, they were estimated at from two million to two million five hundred thousand. At present (1864) they number nearly four million, and of this total amount the single city of London figures for more than two hundred and fifty thousand."
In a note he adds the following figures, furnished him by Dr.Grant, the late Bishop of Southwark:
Total No. of Catholics. No. of Irish.Manchester . . . . . . . . . . . 80,000 . . . . . . 60,000Liverpool . . . . . . . . . . 130,000 . . . . . . 85,000Birmingham . . . . . . . . . . . 30,000 . . . . . . 20,000Preston . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24,000 . . . . . . 4,300Wigan . . . . . . . . . . . 18,000 . . . . . . 6,000Bolton . . . . . . . . . . . 12,000 . . . . . . 4,000St. Helen's (Lancashire) . . . . 10,000 . . . . . . 6,000Edinburgh . . . . . . . . . . . 50,000 . . . . . . 35,000Glasgow . . . . . . . . . . 127,000 . . . . . . 90,000
"Finally, we must not forget that about one-half the army and navy is composed of Irish Catholics.
"In 1792 England and Wales counted no more than thirty-five chapels; in 1840 the number amounted to five hundred, among which were vast and splendid churches, such as St. George's, Southwark, and the Birmingham Cathedral. At present (1864) the number is nearly one thousand.
"In connection with the movement of individual conversions, which yearly brings within our ranks from those of Protestantism the most upright, the sincerest, the best-disposed souls, the Irish immigration in England is then destined to play an important part in the so desirable return of that great island to the faith which she received in the sixth century from St. Gregory the Great and St. Austin of Canterbury," and, let us add, from Aidan and his Irish monks of Lindisfarne and Iona, as Montalembert has shown.
If we examine closely the figures just furnished by F. Perraud, and consider that the number of Catholics in Great Britain was only five hundred thousand in 1821, which, following his calculation, mounted to four million in 1864, if we look closely into the gradations of the increase marked in the various censuses taken between those dates, we shall find that the Irish immigration has indeed played a most important part in the return of England toward Catholicity. We are surprised to find that he seems to estimate the number of Irish in England at only one million; there can be no doubt that they and their offspring compose the majority of Catholics there, and that many of the Englishmen who come back to the true faith are induced by their example and influence, particularly among the lower orders, and that the real work of the conversion of the English nation rests in the hands of the Irish immigrants. Mr. Mayhew has informed us of the disposition of the English costermongers on religious matters.
We have now examined the three great waves which bore the Irish to foreign countries; the lesser streamlets, which wandered away into other English colonies, may be dismissed, as to trace and follow up their course would involve more time and trouble than they really call for. We now see the Irish race disseminated in large groups over many and vast territories; and, although the home population has been considerably diminished by that great exodus, and is now reduced to about five millions, nevertheless, to count them as they are dispersed throughout the world, their number is far higher than it has ever been before; and we now proceed to offer some considerations tending to show the effects of that vast emigration on the resurrection of the race, and on the future progress of the country from which the race comes.
First, then, emigration has given Ireland and Irishmen an importance in the eyes of the world which they and it would never have acquired unless that emigration had taken place; so that England, on whom in a great measure their future fate depends, is now compelled to respect and render them justice; and justice is all that is wanting to bring about their complete resurrection.
In order to form a true idea on this point, it is necessary to consider them in their twofold aspect, as emigrants to the United States, residing under and citizens of a government distinct from that of England; and, secondly, in countries which are under the control of Great Britain, one of these being England itself.
In the Union they become for the greater part citizens of the country which they have made their home, and the first condition necessary for the obtaining of this right of citizenship is the renunciation of all allegiance to their former English rulers. The readiness and joy even with which they perform this task need no mention. But, as Christians, the new obligations under which they bind themselves involve something more than the mere oath of allegiance; the spirit no less than the letter of the oath prescribes that they acknowledge no other country as theirs than that which offered them a refuge, and consequently, by the very fact of becoming American citizens, they cease to be Irishmen.
But their oath does not bind them to forget their former country, as little as it forbids them to benefit it as far as lawfully lies in their power. Far otherwise. Their new allegiance would indeed be a poor thing if, in its very conception, it could only bind hearts so cold as to renounce at once all affection for the land of their birth, and banish in a day memories that the day before were sacred. This is not required of them; and, were it, they could never so understand their allegiance. They remain, and justly, firmly attached to Ireland, and look anxiously for any lawful occasion on which they may manifest their affection by their acts.
Meanwhile, in their new country, position, influence, wealth, consideration, often fall to their lot; their numbers swell, and they become an important factor in the republic. Something of the power wielded by the great nation of which they are now citizens attaches to them, and shows them to the astonished gaze of England under a totally new and unexpected aspect. In war, the effect is most telling, and, even so far back as 1812, the part played by "saucy Jack" Barry, for instance, already gave rise to very grave considerations and forebodings on the part of British statesmen. But, even in time of peace, the high position held by many Irishmen in the United States, and the aggregate voice of a powerful party, where every tongue has a vote, cannot fail to tell advantageously on questions referring to their former country.
Can it be imagined that this exercises no influence on the treatment of Ireland by the ruling power? To afford a true conception of the alteration brought about by Irish emigration, suppose for an instant the ruling power using again its old recklessness in abusing Ireland—not that we imagine the English statesmen of to-day capable of such a thing and anxious to restore what, happily, has passed away forever—but merely to show the utter impossibility of such a contingency again arising, suppose one of the old penal laws to be again enacted and sanctioned by a British sovereign, what would the effect be on the multitude of Irishmen now living in America? What, independently of the Irish, would be the effect on all the organs, worthy of the name, of public opinion in America? How would the great majority of the members, not of Congress only, but of the Legislature of each State, speak? Public opanion is now the ruler of the world, and when public opinion declares against a flagrant and crying injustice, its voice must be heard, its mandate obeyed, and lawlessness cease. This extreme and, as we believe, impossible example, is merely adduced as a proof of the advantage which Ireland has reaped from the dispersion of her scattered children—an advantage falling back on her own head, in return, perhaps, for the mission they are working.
But, over and above the supposition of such an extreme case, there is surely a silent power in the mere standing of millions of free men who would resent, as done to themselves, a recurrence of an attack on their old country. And there are, beyond question, three millions of former Irishmen, citizens to- day of the United States, on whom the glance of many an English statesman, with any just pretension to the name, must fall. Therefore do we say that now England must respect Ireland.
That respect is daily heightened by the greater comfort and easier circumstances, though still far too wretched on the whole, of the Irish at home, which have been mainly brought about by the help received from their exiled countrymen. As was seen, the old policy of their oppressors had for chief object the pauperization of the country, and, as was also seen, that policy was eminently successful. We know how deeply the effects of that former policy are still felt, and how far from completion still is justice in that regard; how they still complain, and with only too much reason, of many laws which are as so many gyves still binding them down in their old degradation; but, of this, the following chapter will speak.
Yet, it is undeniable that their situation is considerably improved, and that the excessive sufferings which formerly seemed their privilege, are scarcely possible in our days. This change in their circumstances for the better may be ascribed to a variety of causes, one of which, we acknowledge, has been the repairing of many previous injustices. But we must acknowledge also that the main lever in a nation's resurrection, once the ground is cleared round about—her treasury—has, as far as Ireland is concerned, been chiefly replenished from abroad. Absentee landlords still drain the country; but the money which has gone into it has been certainly owing greatly to the immense sums transmitted yearly from America by the exiles, all of which has certainly not returned to the place from which it went out. It is impossible to estimate the amount which was kept in Ireland and that which floated back, but the balance must be considerably on the side of what remained, as the distress at home was so great, and in millions of instances immediate relief came from the distant friends who had acquired a competency in their new country, and, knowing the dire distress of their relatives at home, sent generally what they could spare, by the speediest means at their command.
There is no doubt that thousands of families have thus been benefited by that first sad emigration of their friends, and that the visible improvement in the condition of the Irish at home is in a great measure due to it. We hear, moreover, that the working of the new "Encumbered Estates Court " has already placed in the hands of native Irishmen many parcels of the lands of their fathers, and probably many of the ample estates belonging to what was the Irish Church Establishment, which are to be sold, will find their way back in the same manner.
The Irish are thus being slowly reinstated in possession of their own soil, and, that once accomplished, the respect of England is secured—respectability in England being in its essence equivalent to real estate.
Thus is the uprising of the nation being gradually, silently, but surely brought about by the emigration to the United States; and this effect is considerably heightened when the emigration to countries under English control is taken into consideration— Canada, Australia, England itself.
In those places the same results followed which we have just witnessed in the United States, but another and far greater result remains for them. Not only did they slowly aid in awakening the respect for their countrymen at home in the English breast by their own rising importance and improved condition, but in Canada and Australia they possess a privilege which, in the British Isles, is theirs only in theory, but abroad becomes a very powerful fact.
Ever since the Union of 1800, the Irish are supposed to form a part and parcel of the empire at home, and to have fair representation of their native country in the members they return to the Imperial Parliament. But it is well known that the Irish influence in that Parliament is almost null, and that their presence there frequently is productive of no other result than to countenance laws injurious to their own country. Does, can Ireland hope to derive any political or social benefit from her representatives in London beyond whatever may accrue to her from their vain remonstrances and ineffective speeches? But in the colonial Parliaments the case is very different.
It is not our desire to be understood as saying that Irishmen, by meddling with politics, can effect a certain improvement in their condition and that of their country, beyond giving tokens of the life which is in them. We believe, on the contrary, that too great an eagerness in such pursuits has injured them on many occasions; and they ought to beware of flattering themselves that they are rising because their votes are clamored for, and they themselves exhorted to enter into the contest as fierce partisans. This, too often, leads them into making themselves the mere tools of shrewd men.
But, in the colonies, they muster in considerable force, and, with prudence and sagacity, may have their desires and measures fairly considered and conceded; for, unfortunately, the style of measures fair and favorable to them as Irishmen and Catholics, is completely at variance with that of those opposed to them, whom, go where they will, they encounter, and always in the same form. In Ireland, they are at liberty, apparently, to do the same by reason of their superiority in point of numbers; the result of the late Galway elections proves what a farce is this show of liberty, and even the members whom they would and do sometimes elect possess a very feeble influence, or none, in what is called the Imperial Parliament. But, in the colonies, if they, as electors, outnumber their political opponents, they can and must return the majority to the House of Representatives and of officers to the various departments of the colonial administration. Such is the law of election in really representative governments which are truly free; the majority of electors returns the majority to the government; and rightly so. Of course, there is room here, particularly where the majority happens to be Irish, for a vast quantity of frothy bluster about drilled and intimidated voters, and all that sort of thing. With that we have no concern at present, and merely remark en passant that it is a pity a little more of it was not wasted on the recent Galway elections, already alluded to, on both sides; and for the rest, that the world has not yet been apprised of Irish majorities in the Australian Parliament abusing their power by either accidental or systematic misrule; and it may, therefore, be safely conceded that, on the whole, the government has rested in safe hands. However, what concerns us at present is the state of Canada and Australia, where, among the highest public dignitaries, are found men who are Irish, not simply by birth, but in feeling and in truth. And the conclusion which we wish to draw from that fact is, that Ireland is greatly benefited by the high positions which her sons assume in those distant colonies; and probably no one will be rash enough to deny or controvert in any way this point.
The truth is, that by emigration Ireland has suddenly expanded into vast regions formerly ignorant of her name; regions which swell the power and wealth of England, and which are destined to play a very important part in her future history. In these districts Irishmen have found a new country; something of the ubiquity of the English belongs to them, and the influence, power, and weight, thus thrown into their hands, need no further comment. To show this in extenso would be only to travel over ground already trodden in previous pages, enumerating the various countries they have touched upon in their Exodus. Thus have our seemingly long digressions had a very direct object in view, and served powerfully to solve our original question. We may now see that the resurrection of Ireland was intimately involved in the emigration of her children; that much of what has already taken place to aid in that resurrection may be ascribed to this emigration, and that much brighter days are yet in store for the nation, resulting mainly from this constant and powerful cause. Let no one, then, lament the perseverance of those hardy wanderers who, though their country has already been depleted by millions, still leave her to the figure of seventy thousand annually. It seems that in Ireland much surprise is expressed at the movement never ceasing. Providence will end it in its own good time; if God still allows it, it is surely for the accomplishment of his own mighty and benevolent designs.
To conclude, then, this long chapter, there is only one question to be put, which demands a few words, but words, in our opinion at least, of vast importance, and which we would give all that is ours to give, to see promptly and energetically attended to: Has Ireland profited by this so-often mentioned emigration to the extent she should have profited? And what ought Irishmen to do in order to increase the advantages derived from it?
We must confess that, up to the present, the benefit is far from what it ought to have been, and the cause of this lies in want of organization and association. They have seemed to let God work for them without any cooperation on their part; for God's, as we saw, was the plan, and he forced them, as it were, to carry out his design. They went at the work blindly, merely following the impulse of circumstances, with no preparatory organization, and less still of association. And even now, when they are spread out over such vast territories in such mighty multitudes, as yet they have given no sign of the least desire of attempting even something like a combined effort to accelerate the work of Providence. The only signs of life so far given have been violent and spasmodic, directly opposed to the genius of the race, which, as we have endeavored to prove, has nothing revolutionary in its character, and is not given to dark plots and godless conspiracies.
Unfortunately, also, they do not seem naturally adapted to a spirit of steady and long-continued or systematic association. In this, chiefly, does their race differ from the Scandinavian stock, which is grafted on system, combination, and steadiness, in pursuit of the object in hand.
But why not begin, at least, to make an effort in that direction? The Latin races, in which runs so much Celtic blood, are powerful to organize, as the Romans of old, and the French and Spaniards of to-day, have so often proved. The Irish have been infused with plenty of foreign blood, after their many national catastrophes, although we believe that their primitive characteristics have always overcome all foreign elements introduced among them; and, what the race could scarcely attempt ages ado, is possible now. Moreover, there is nothing in the leanings of race which may not be overcome, and sure without any radical change a nation can adapt itself to the necessities of the time, and to altered circumstances. Let the Irish see what they might effect toward the resurrection of their native country, if they only seriously began at last to organize and associate for that purpose. They would thus turn the immense forces of their nation, now scattered over the world, to the real advantage of their birthplace. In union is strength; but union can only be promoted by association, particularly when the elements to be united are so far apart.
For such an object do we believe that God gave man in these late days the destroyers of space—the steam-engine and the electric telegraph. Those powerful agents of unification were unknown to mankind until God decreed that his children dispersed through the earth should be more compactly united. To the Catholic they were given, in the first place, to serve God's first purpose by making the Church firmer in her unity and more effective in the propagation of truth; but, after all, the mission of the Irish to-day is only a branch of the mission of the Church, and, if only on that account, are the missionaries deserving of all honor and respect.
If in the designs of Providence the time has at last arrived for the dwelling of the children of Japhet in the tents of Sem, and for putting an end to the terrible evils dating from the dispersion at Babel and the confusion of tongues, the object of these great scientific discoveries is still more apparent. At all events, organization and association are clearly needed for the resurrection of Ireland, and the sooner a step is taken in that direction the better.
But, what association would we propose? What should be its immediate and most practicable objects? These questions we do not feel competent to answer. Let Irishmen be once convinced that organization is the great lever to work for the raising up of their down-trodden nation, and they will know best how to use this powerful instrument. The leaders of the nation in that holy enterprise should, in our own opinion, be its spiritual leaders. They know their country, and they love it; they undoubtedly possess the confidence of their countrymen: they, then, should be the natural originators of those great schemes. And what other leaders does Ireland possess, what body like them, acceptable to the nation, and neither to be bought by money nor office?
This first remark naturally presupposes another: that the object of those associations, being approved of by the religious guides of the people, cannot be other than holy, and consequently require no secrecy of any kind. They must be patent to the world, as not being antagonistic to any established law or authority. Every man desirous of becoming a member of the association should know beforehand what is proposed to be done, and how far his consent is to be given.
One other important point strikes us: the centre of organization should be in Ireland. Ireland is to be benefited by it, and there the effort should naturally begin, where its results will fall. As for the particular direction which those efforts should take, the detail of the whole enterprise, the plan of the campaign—all this lies beyond us, and a sketch of it would most probably be a mere chimera.
One concluding word may be said, however, on a subject which has often been present to the writer's mind: The fearful oppression of the nation began by robbing the people of their lands and making them paupers: one of the first aims of association, then, should evidently be the raising of the people up by the restoration, in great part at least, of the soil to the native race.
It is not our purpose to propose a new confiscation now, by way of remedying the old ones; but England has allowed them to buy back the land of their fathers in the "Encumbered Estates Courts, "and by the law recently passed which disestablished the Irish Protestant Church? Is there no room for a plan whereby Irishmen, who have grown rich in foreign countries, may become purchasers of the land thus offered for sale? And, in reply to the natural and powerful objection to such a plan on the score of distance from their native land, and the natural repugnance to return and live there, and break up new ties, which are now old, and have made them what they are, could not the fathers spare one son at least, whom they might devote to the noble purpose of becoming Irish again, and settling on an Irish estate, and marrying there? This would seem an easy and simple manner of recreating a Catholic gentry in the island.
This is merely a hint thrown out to exemplify what we mean by associations for the purpose of raising Ireland up again; the many possible objects of national organization will occur to any mind giving a moment's reflection to it. This subject will occupy our attention at greater length in the next chapter.