RELIGION
I wish to make a note on the article under this heading to avoid a
possible misconception amongst people outside Ireland. In Ireland there
is no religious dissension, but there is religious sincerity. English
politicians, to serve the end of dividing Ireland, have worked on the
religious feelings of the North, suggesting the danger of Catholic
ascendancy. There is not now, and there never was, any such danger, but
our enemies, by raising the cry, sowed discord in the North, with the
aim of destroying Irish unity. It should be borne in mind that when the
Republican Standard was first raised in the field in Ireland, in the
Rising of 1798, Catholics and Protestants in the North were united in
the cause. Belfast was the first home of Republicanism in Ireland. This
is the truth of the matter. The present-day cleavage is an unnatural
thing created by Ireland's enemies to hold her in subjection and will
disappear entirely with political Freedom.
It has had, however, in our day, one unhappy effect, only for a time
fortunately, and this is disappearing. I refer to the rise of
Hibernianism. The English ruling faction having, for their own political
designs, corrupted the Orangemen with power and flattery, enabled them
to establish an ascendancy not only over Ulster, but indirectly by their
vote over the South. This becoming intolerable, some sincere but
misguided Catholics in the North joined the organisation known as THE
ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS.
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