Bishop Fogarty in a flight of fantastic rhetoric professes to
see in the Lord Chief Justice's words, and also in the words of " Mr. Macpherson and his troupe," an accusation against the people of Clare that they are given over to every kind of sexual crime, indecency, moral perversity, and so forth. He concludes with this sentence :-
"What is wrong with Claret I will tell the world what is wrong with Clare, and in a voice which I hope will travel farther and louder than that of Judge Molony. It is that they have the manliness to stand up against tyranny, and to flourish the flag of Irish independence in the face of Castle hacks, whether on the Bench or of it."
Surely those words are nothing more nor less than incitement to violence. There is no trace of Christian restraining influence in Bishop Fogarty's letter, only the fury of one who flogs on the agents of terrorism. Archbishop Walsh, on whose unfortunate fetter we commented last week, has to his credit in another letter denounced the series of murders in Ireland. But what are we to say about Bishop Fogarty ? Merely this, that we cannot understand why the law which is at present trying to maintain order should allow itself to be a respecter of persons. If priests or Bishops deliberately throw fuel on the flames which are now consuming Ireland, surely they ought to be liable to arrest just like any other men.
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