It is curious enough that just at this moment when
the greatest jealousy of the Catholic Church is felt in England, so that Mr. Newdegate carries with him an exceptional sympathy in he motion for the Committee on monastic institutions, the American convents appear to be in unusual favour among the politicians of America. At Washington, the House of Representatives has just voted a grant of £4,000 (20,000 dole.) to the Sisters of Mercy at Charlestown to rebuild their Orphanage which had been de- stroyed in the war, by a majority of 110 votes against 43. Mr. Bowen, a representative of South Carolina, in supporting this vote asserted that the services of the sisters " could not be repaid by money," and that in the performance of their various services the sisters " had displayed the courage of the soldier united with the wisdom of the statesman." Mr. Bowen is no Catholic, at least our Catholic contemporaries call him a Protestant, but he added, " The Catholic Church is always the pioneer on our fron- tier, bringing to civilization the blessings of Christianity." The Protestant feeling in England is very far, indeed, from that, and so much the worse for us, for as far as we understand the state of Ireland, Mr. Newdegate's motion seems little less than a misfor- tune. The prospect of a prying investigation into the condition of the Catholic convents seems to have already kindled in Ireland a feeling little short of rage and hatred.
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