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Show j Catholics-Tavond in the Zransvaal (N. B. The pro-Enelish New York , Times refused to publish the following : fair and temperate communication.) ( Editor the New A'ork Times: ! The advocate in chief for the British 1 government in this country seems to be your correspondent, Thomas G. Shearman, Shear-man, whose statements on the Boer Republics Re-publics have, occupied space in the Times : and other pro-British organs for some I time past. So numerous, to glaring and so ridiculous have, ln-rn the misrepresentations) misrepre-sentations) and exaggerations of the writer that his communications have been aptly designated a Comedy of Errors. Er-rors. In one of his recent effusions he makes' fho following declaration: "'As for Irish Catholics, President Kruger hates them so much that he has never allowed them to have the right of gain- . ing a vote or ever holding an office under any circumstancos." This is a malicious and deliberate misstatement. Br. Leyds. ! plenipotentiary of the Boers in Europe.. is! himself a Catholic, and among others holding office, under the present Kruger ! administration are Dr. Farelly. govern- j ment advisor on international law. Irish ; Catholic: Mr. Hogan. secretary to the commandant general. Irish Catholic: Chevalier O'Donohue, vice chairman of! the Johannesburg corporation, Irish I Catholic. One-fourth of tho Transvaal civil service are Catholics. The Catholic ciiurcn ana convent in ir"retorui are ouut on; ground presented bv the Transvaal government to the church. The Boers have been uniformly considerate consid-erate to the nuns and priests. Of this we have ample testimony in letters which have appeared in the leading Catholic journals in the United States from various . German and Irish priests, who have bfon I on the mission in the Transvaal. The Oblato missionaries, now in America, and having had practical experience of life in the Transvaal, have declared that thero is no need of the removal of any Catholic disabilities, as the constitution of tne republic guarantees- religious equality. In the convention of 'si, the sixteenth clause guarantees religious equality to the various sects, and this is confirmed in clause nine of the convention of 'M. Great Britain should be the last power in tho world to protest against religious disabilities in another country. If I were to refer to Ireland. I find that in that country no Catholic is allowed to till the oflico of lord lieutenant. Notwithstanding Notwithstand-ing tho fact that Queen A'ictoria has millions mil-lions of Catholic; subjects, under the constitution con-stitution of Great Britain her majesty was obliged to take an oath that tho fundamental tenets of the Catholic faith are "falser and idolatrous." President Kruger was never compelled to tako a cowardly and bigoted oath of that kind. In Ireland, which is three-fourths Catholic, Cath-olic, the vast proportion of offices are in tho hands of the Protestant minority, and the bishops and archbishops are permitted per-mitted to exercise their sacred functions merely by sufferance of the government. Within tho last few years the vast Catholic majority in Ireland has been refused re-fused a university, while the small Protestant minority has entire control of tho university and the higher education of the country. Only sixteen out of fifty-six fifty-six of tho queen's counsel are Catholics, and only three of tho eighteen judges of the higher courts of procedure. As an evidence of the conditions prevailing pre-vailing in Ireland at the present time. I cite the case of a young Irishman, a ward of court, who recently expre-ssed a wish to enter the Jesuit order as a novice. The lord chancellor was about to make a minute confirming his wish, when his attention was drawn to a cla.use in t.o Catholic emancipation act ot ..'. hindering hin-dering the status of Jesuit anu other ivli5.aus orders illegal. It" iNpocars from tnis unrepealed provision provi-sion t'liUt anvene becoming a Jesuit in tne I'nited Kingdom or any Jesuit cming t" tho rniuxl 'KinsruV'm from abroad is nao.e to banishment and o:i his return to tno I'nited Kingdom is liable to penal eti-Uide. eti-Uide. for life. . , , Fndc-r the law. the court refusal to sanction the young man entering toe. Jesuit Je-suit Novitiate. , . ,., , For vAir.-s tn. Cathoi.'c members of t!te h.mse of commons nave endeavored to repeal re-peal these iniquitous and infamou. siuu-uteis siuu-uteis but the enli.a'hte.r.ed and lo.eiaot. government of England has bloc.wi t.it WTn' local government botird. which practically governs lreiand. is now oni-pys-.il of four Protestants, under the pie-idonvy pie-idonvy of Mr. Balfour, tac Prote.-i.mi English repiesi.r.tativ e of Leeds. In lsr, :iiaml:r:ain.diiverod a speh on KngKsh rule in Ireland, from which 1 quoto the follnw-ing extracts: . -I u'o not be.i-ve that the groat ma.ioniv of Englishmen have? the slightest cone e,-tion e,-tion of t'iu sv.-iem under whica lU.s i.e.; nation attempt to rule a sistor count r It is a. svsiein whicth is foundvd on tut liavont ts'of ::h.0m soldiers encamped permanently per-manently as in a hosi'iie country. It i a. system a.i completely oi nu-a.-zed ana in.pf.- ;is) that with which ).- sia governs) Poland, or as that w hich was common in Venice under Austrian rme. In regard to lyir. Shearman s coin, na.ru Chat ohridren nurM ake their education m Dutch. 1 would like to make the follow in., observations: Bona x'de settlers cannot objoet to the use of t'ht language ot i - . oumtrv in w hich they live. c expect tn,, I German. Dutch and Italia;? w ho attr no , our public si'hools to use otir lanu. w . Tho Boers have never objectfe l , to t r u Englishmen instructing their em.-"-'1" 111 sJh..ols of their own and they have a perfect per-fect right to refuse to pay for the Icy"; ing of an alien and hated tongue. J what are Jlr. Joseph ChamberUm s ov n views on tho subject of an alien "'hS'.1:11 spoken in an Engi'ish principality, uitii-in uitii-in a few months he ha.-; issuod a decree regarding the suppression of the Ira, ism I language" bv the English on the island ..t , Malta. Despite indignant protust and a. 1 public putition directed to London by t n. j offended islanders. Chamburlam has t'-r- , mally replied that he sees no .reason what- j ever for changing the inte.nt.ion.- .ot tn government and that the inhabitants, w.u bo given a term of fifteen years in oioer to a.-.lopt definitely the English lan.gu.ige as- the only one to be used in mait.u-i s ot official business in Malta. Commenting upon this tyrannical decree the special cot respondent of the Times in a recent issu- savs: "Out of li2.XJ inhabitants, inhab-itants, but 2.w are British, ami the Italian Ital-ian language is taught in a:ll of the lis public schools. Ait tho newspapers are published in Italian .and the affairs of t.ni council of administration ure also lUseu.ss- i ed in that tongue. The sudden act of tho I British minister of colonial affairs, in faking from a people their one remain:fg j relic of . their former independence, their language, has called down upon h-.m n t ( onlv the condemnation of many of 'his . own countrymen, but of tho entire En- ropean press, and it is sinr-orely to be -hopod that undor a.nother minister Great Britain will retract this hasty proclama- , tion. at once unnecessary and uncihc-l for." The cruelty, hypocrisy and bad fath of I the Brttfish government towards our sister i republic in South Africa is without pa" if-' lei in the history f the world. j T. ST. JOHN GOFF-E. |