Irish people are Roman
Catholics, while, excluding the Northern province, quite nine-tenths of
the population belong to that religion. Again, the three thousand
clergymen of that denomination exercise an influence over their flocks
not merely in regard to religious matters, but in almost every phase of
their lives and conduct, which is, in its extent and character, quite
unique, even, I should say, amongst Roman Catholic communities. To a
Protestant, this authority seems to be carried very far beyond what the
legitimate influence of any clergy over the lay members of their
congregation should be. We are, however, dealing with a national life
explicable only by reference to a very exceptional and gloomy history of
religious persecution. What I may call the secular shortcomings of the
Roman Catholics in Ireland cannot be fairly judged except as the results
of a series of enactments by which they were successively denied almost
all means of succeeding as citizens of this world.

From such study as I have been able to give to the history of their
Church, I have come to the conclusion that the immense power of the
Irish Roman Catholic clergy has been singularly little abused. I think
it must be admitted that they have not exhibited in any marked degree
bigotry towards Protestants. They have not put obstacles in the way of
the Roman Catholic majority choosing Protestants for political leaders,
and it is significant that refugees, such as the Palatines, from
Catholic persecutions in Europe, found at different times a home amongst
the Roman Catholic people of Ireland. My own experience, too, if I may
again refer to that, distinctly proves that it is no disadvantage to a
man to be a Protestant in Irish political life, and that where
opposition is shown to him by Roman Catholics it is almost invariably on
political, social, or agrarian, but not on religious grounds.

A charge of another kind has of late been often brought against the
Roman Catholic clergy, which has a direct bearing upon the economic
aspect of this question. Although, as I read Irish history, the Roman
Catholic priesthood have, in the main, used their authority with
personal disinterestedness, if not always with prudence or discretion,
their undoubted zeal for religion has, on occasion, assumed forms which
enlightened Roman Catholics, including high dignitaries of that Church,
think unjustifiable on economic grounds, and discourage even from a
religious standpo