ving an audience with the Pope, for which arrangements had
been made. The forecast of the _Tablet_ as to Mgr. Persico's return to
Ireland to see that the terms of the decree were enforced and applied,
was not correct. The responsibility for the decree was everywhere laid
on his shoulders, and the _Tablet_ for April 27th, 1889, records that an
Address was presented to Mgr. Persico after his return to Rome "as an
expression of respect, and in the fervent hope that his Excellency's
mission might largely conduce to the glory of God, the increase of
charity, and the restoration of peace and goodwill among men."

It is only in the last couple of years, with the publications of
Persico's correspondence with Cardinal Manning,[15] that the real facts
of the case have been known. After spending six months in Ireland, the
envoy was obliged, for reasons of health, to move to Devonshire in
January, 1888. He had orders from Rome to remain in the British Islands,
but further, so he told the Cardinal in his letter, "I must not reside
in London so as to give not the least suspicion that I have anything to
do with the British Government." As to the promulgation of the decree,
it was done without his knowledge and, what is more, against his
judgment. Having arrived in Ireland in July, 1887, he had concluded his
investigations by the middle of the month of December of that year. His
requests that the mission might be terminated were met by the reply that
it was to continue indefinitely, and he was told that if he wished, for
reasons of health, to leave Ireland during the winter months he might do
so, but that he must remain in the British Isles.

After the issue of the rescript he wrote to the English Cardinal in
these words:--"It is known to your Eminence that I did not expect at all
the said decree, that I was never so much surprised in my life as when I
received the bare circular from Propaganda on the morning of the 28th
ulto. And fancy, I received the bare circular, as I suppose every Irish
bishop did, without a letter or a word of instruction or explanation.
And what is more unaccountable to me, only the day before I had received
a letter from the Secretary for the Extraordinary Ecclesiastical
Affairs, telling me that nothing had been done about Irish affairs, and
that my report and other letters were still _nell casetta del Emo.
Rampolla!_ And yet the whole world thinks and says that the Holy Office
has acted on my report, and that