" There is much that is equally clear and definite. What
extravagant things can be said on the other side by people in high
places we know too well. Balmez in the same book and chapter gives an
excellent example and an excellent reply: "Don Felix Amat, Archbishop of
Palmyra, in the posthumous work entitled _Idea of the Church Militant_,
makes use of these words: 'Jesus Christ, by His plain and expressive
answer, _Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's_, has sufficiently
established that the mere fact of a government's existence is sufficient
for enforcing the obedience of subjects to it....' His work was
forbidden at Rome," is Balmez' expressive comment, and he continues,
"and whatever may have been the motives for such a prohibition, we may
rest assured that, in the case of a book advocating such doctrines,
every man who is jealous of his rights might acquiesce in the decree of
the Sacred Congregation." So much for _De Facto_ Government. It is
usurpation; by being consummated it does not become legitimate. When its
decrees are not resisted, it does not mean we accept them in
principle--nor can we even pretend to accept them--but that the hour to
resist has not yet come. It is the strategy of war.
III
We stand on the ground that the English Government in Ireland is founded
in usurpation and as such deny its authority. But if it be argued,
assuming it as Ireland's case, that a usurped authority, gradually
acquiesced in by the people, ultimately becomes the same as legitimate,
the reply is still clear.
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