In Ireland the Catholic faith is an actual preservative of private morality, for in Connaught there is only illegitimate birth in 23'53 legitimate, whilst in the north of Ireland, which is a Puritan and Scotch settlement, there is I illegitimate birth in 7:26 legitimate. The fact of Irish morality is proverbial, and bears striking contrast to the character of its more wealthy Protestant neighbours; and though many persons may assert that this morality is an idiosyncrasy of the national character, we have no hesitation in affirming it to be the result of Catholic teaching and loyalty to the Church of their ancestors.

A striking testimony to the truth of our remarks has recently been witnessed. Not long ago an assertion of immorality was made in an English newspaper1 celebrated for its defence of Evangelical truth, against Irish women in general, and the Irish Church in particular, in the following words :—

"The much vaunted chastity of Irish girls is a myth.

In the rural districts of Ireland the priest is the seducer of the parish, and the early improvident marriages of the young people

"The Rock," a Church of England Family Newspaper, Oct. 5th, 1877.

are encouraged by him to conceal his immorality. There is not, and cannot be chastity where Popery reigns."

These observations drew forth from Lord Oranmore a reply which we give in extenso :—

"SIR,-A letter appears in your number of the 5th instant headed 'Chastity of Irish Girls.' I believe there can be no more uncompromising Protestant, no one more convinced of the evils of the Roman Catholic system than I am. I have taken the 'Rock' since it was published, and admire its straightforward advocacy of Protestant principles, and therefore I the more regret that by some oversight a paragraph so calumnious and untrue should find place in its columns. I have spent much of my life in a Roman Catholic part of Ireland, and know well not only that Irish girls are generally chaste, but that it is quite an exception that Irish priests are (in this sense) immoral men; and yet this paragraph attributes to the whole body adultery with malice aforethought and prepense. The admission of such a paragraph into your journal cannot but bring discredit on the good cause your journal so ably supports.

Castle Mac Garrett,

Co. Mayo."

ORANMORE.

Such testimony as this in our favour, from one of our strongest opponents, ought to convince every reasonable man of the truth of our previous assertion with reference to the morality of the Irish, even should he refuse to believe in the morality of the great mass of Catholics.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE REFORMATION IN CONNECTION WITH THE

DEVELOPMENT OF CIVIL LIBERTIES.

The Reformation wherever it has prevailed has constituted a State Church, and dealt a blow to civil liberty-Civil and political liberty in those countries in which the Reformation did not succeed in establishing a State Church-In those countries where large numbers remained Catholics-Where they branched off into separate bodies-Civil liberty of old standing amongst Catholic nations-Absolutism a modern invention-The Catholic Church alone capable of resisting the dissolving element contained in civil liberty-Practical proofs.

HE assertion is frequently made that the Reformation is conducive to the development of civil liberty, and that Catholi

cism inevitably leads to despotism and People declare that the representative system is the form of government natural to Pro

anarchy.

testant countries, whilst Catholics are born to absolutism.

Martin, Marshall, and others have written learned works upon the subject which ably demonstrate the following propositions :

Istly. Wherever the Reformation has prevailed a State Church has been constituted, and a blow has been dealt at civil liberty which has compelled the nation to retrograde instead of advancing in the path of political progress.

2ndly. Civil and political liberties have flourished relatively only in the countries wherein the leaders of the Reformation did not succeed in making a State Church, and in those of whom a great portion of the nation remained Catholic, or formed themselves into separate religious bodies.

3rdly. Civil liberty is of old standing amongst Catholic nations, and absolutism is a modern abuse of power.

4thly. The Catholic Church can alone, in the midst of a nation, offer resistance, in virtue of its religion and by means of its worship, to the dissolving elements contained in civil liberty-which gives expression to every conceivable opinion, and tolerates every imaginable form of worship.

Religious unity maintained by political institutions is an appreciable benefit, and the Catholic Church has never ceased to proclaim this truth; but when Protestants establish State Churches they place themselves in open contradiction with the fundamental principles of their religious rebellion. Amongst Protestants a State Church means the complete subjection of the Church to the State, upon which the Church becomes but the instrument of the State; whereas in Catholic teaching religious unity is not regarded as a temporal means of government, but as a directing principle superior to the State. The Anglican Church, for instance, is a Church created by the State, supported by the State, and kept up for purposes of the State.' It is only known in lands where English people are to be found, is as purely English as if heaven were a British colony, and as completely national as if Christ and His Apostles had lived in England and taught only what the English

1 There are doubtless large numbers of clergy and laity in the Anglican communion who would repudiate this idea, but it is one that prevails very extensively amongst men of letters, and includes many of the bishops and dignitaries and a large proportion of laymen in the present day, just as it did in the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries.