The New Irish Constitution: An Exposition and Some Arguments. VariousЧитать онлайн книгу.
of mutual forbearance; militant bigotry could not permanently exist alongside the prevalence of the spirit of [pg 108] charity; and Ulster, as well as other parts of Ireland, might make its contribution thereto. Some new forces there are working for toleration, I believe that they are increasing. Among them are these: the action of democratic institutions in which persons of all creeds take part; the prosperity of the country bringing in its train to all parts of the country new ideas and hopes and interests; the performance by Catholics and Protestants of common civic duties; the constant stream, strongly charged with secular elements, flowing between Ireland and the United States; the silent influence of literature and newspapers permeated by a spirit which no priesthood can exorcise; the frequency of mixed marriages as proved by the action of the Catholic Church against them; the existence of urgent political and social questions as to which men are not divided according to their religious beliefs. These are so many manifestations of the modern spirit, from the operation of which Ireland no more than any other part of the western world can escape. They may prove stronger than legal safeguards.
I shall not attempt to measure the relative strength of these influences, but I should be inclined to rate highest the ultimate effect of democracy, and of a Parliament in which must be a Protestant minority powerful by their talents, their wealth and their energy. Democracy has everywhere its own problems, as engrossing for it as any in which the Church is interested. It will solve them in its own way, which may not be always the Church's. “Nothing,” says Mr. Bryce with reference to America, “excites more general disapproval than any attempt by an ecclesiastical organisation to interfere in politics.” Under democratic institutions there may be the same results in [pg 109] Ireland. The remodelling of primary education will probably be one of the first struggles in which an Irish Parliament will be engaged. The fight will be in the open, which is a clear gain. The Church may for a time succeed in retaining its present hold over the schools. It is quite as likely that it will lose ground, and that the first Irish Minister of Education will be the first to incur ecclesiastical censure. There is much evidence of the growth of a widespread toleration extending it may be hoped, to the northeast corner of Ulster:
“Since the Local Government Act of 1898,” writes Mr. Annan Bryce, “it has not been found that the priest interferes unless in the rare cases where there is a question of personal morality, and then not always with success.”
The opinions of three Lord-Lieutenants upon this point cannot be ignored.
Lord Aberdeen:
“After years of continuous residence in Ireland, watching affairs and meeting people of every class and creed, I am profoundly impressed with the baselessness of alarm about the consequences of Home Rule.
“On Home Rule for Ireland, I repeat and emphasise the opinion of my former telegrams, especially regarding apprehension of religious intolerance.”
The late Lord Spencer:
“I have had some experience of Ireland, and yet I do not know any specific instance where there has been the exercise of religious intolerance on the part of the Roman Catholics against their Protestant countrymen.”
The Marquis of Crewe:
“In 1886 and 1893 the animosity between classes, largely agrarian in its origin, was far stronger than at present, and the line of cleavage [pg 110] roughly followed that of religious difference. But even in those days, as I well remember, it was evident that the possibilities of intolerance in a self-governed Ireland were deliberately and grossly exaggerated, with a party motive. Now, when the various classes know each other better, and there is less occasion for friction, the attempt to excite religious discord will utterly fail, as I firmly believe.”
The safeguards provided by the measure deal specifically with the subjects as to which fears of religious inequality exist: establishment and endowment, education and marriage; as compared with them, the provisions in the Canadian and Australian Acts are very imperfect. They guard, in explicit terms, against the dangers to religious liberty and equality in a way in which probably no other Constitution does.
A necessary supplement to any Legislature with limited jurisdiction is a Court of Appeal. Under the proposed constitution, the Irish Courts will be free to determine the constitutional character of any measures passed by the Irish Parliament; and from their decisions an appeal will lie to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which will decide questions similar to those determined by it with reference to the Canadian and Australian constitutions, and by the Supreme Court of the United States reviewing the constitutional character of State legislation. It may be surmised that the Court will be faithful to the principles which it has laid down in dealing with the powers of the Parliaments of the Dominions. It has not hesitated to interfere in Canada with ecclesiastical sentences or censure which it believed invalid (see e.g., Brown v. Curé de Montreal). It will, we may assume, do likewise in Ireland.
To conclude: He who believes in political freedom will believe also that religious oppression cannot long [pg 111] co-exist with it. Never, so far as I know, has ecclesiastical tyranny been enduring under democratic institutions; and I see no reason why the result should be different in the new Ireland which the Land Acts and the Local Government Act have created. Full and free political life is the best, perhaps the only, solvent of intolerance.
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