ted to estimate the influence of our
political leaders as a potential and as an actual force. I come now to
the second great influence upon the thought and action of the Irish
people, the influence of religion, especially the power exercised by the
priests and by the unrivalled organisation of the Roman Catholic Church.
I do not share the pessimism which sees in this potent influence nothing
but the shackles of mediaevalism restraining its adherents from falling
into line with the progress of the age. I shall, indeed, have to admit
much of what is charged against the clerical leaders of popular thought
in Ireland, but I shall be able to show, I hope, that these leaders are
largely the product of a situation which they themselves did not create,
and that not only are they as susceptible as are the political leaders
to the influences of progressive movements, but that they can be more
readily induced to take part in their promotion. In no other country in
the world, probably, is religion so dominant an element in the daily
life of the people as in Ireland, and certainly nowhere else has the
minister of religion so wide and undisputed an authority. It is obvious,
therefore, that, however foreign such a theme may _prima facie_ appear
to the scope and aim of the present volume, I have no choice but to
analyse frankly and as fully as my personal experience justifies, what I
conceive to be the true nature, the salutary limits, and the actual
scope of clerical influence in this country.

But before I can discuss what I may call the religious situation, there
is one fundamental question--a question which will appear somewhat
strange to anyone not in touch with Irish life--which I must, with a
view to a general agreement on essentials, submit to some of my
co-religionists. In all seriousness I would ask, whether in their
opinion the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland is to be tolerated. If the
answer be in the negative, I can only reply that any efforts to stamp
out the Roman Catholic faith would fail as they did in the past; and the
practical minds among those I am now addressing must admit that in
toleration alone is to be found the solution of that part of the Irish
difficulty which is due to sectarian animosities.

This brings us face to face with the question, What is religious
toleration--I do not mean as a pious sentiment which we are all
conscious of ourselves possessing in a truer sense than that in which it
is possessed