the
clergy for the state of public opinion in this matter, to which the few
facts I have cited bear testimony. But I attribute their failure to deal
with a moral evil of which they are fully cognisant to the fact that
they do not recognise the chief defect in the character of the people,
and to a misunderstanding of the means by which that character can be
strengthened. There are, however, exceptions to this general statement.
It is of happy augury for the future of Ireland that many of the clergy
are now leading a temperance movement which shows a real knowledge of
the _causa causans_ of Irish intemperance. The Anti-Treating League, as
it is called, administers a novel pledge which must have been conceived
in a very understanding mind. Those enlisted undertake neither to treat
nor to be treated. They may drink, so far as the pledge is concerned, as
much as they like; but they must drink at their own expense; and others
must not drink at their expense. The good nature and sociability of
Irishmen, too often the mere result of inability to say 'no,' need not
be sacrificed. But even if they were, the loss of these social graces
would be far more than compensated by a self-respect and seriousness of
life out of which something permanent might be built. Still, even this
League makes no direct appeal to character, and so acts rather as a cure
for than as a preventive of our moral weakness.

The methods by which clerical influence is wielded in the inculcation of
chastity may be criticised from exactly the same standpoint as that from
which I have found it necessary to deal with the question of temperance.
Here the success of the Irish priesthood is, considering the conditions
of peasant life, and the fire of the Celtic temperament, absolutely
unique. No one can deny that almost the entire credit of this moral
achievement belongs to the Roman Catholic clergy. It may be said that
the practice of a virtue, even if the motive be of an emotional kind,
becomes a habit, and that habit proverbially develops into a second
nature. With this view of moral evolution I am in entire accord; but I
would ask whether the evolution has not reached a stage where a gradual
relaxation of the disciplinary measures by which chastity is insured
might be safely allowed without any danger of lowering the high standard
of continence which is general in Ireland and which of course it is of
supreme importance to maintain.

There are, however, many paris