1 Irish College
Rome 10th June 1916 My Lord Bishop, I write to thank you
for sending me the 'cutting' about
the famous correspondence. Since then
one from the Evening Mail was sent
me from Dublin, and I have seen it
also in the Catholic Times. Nothing
that pays, disedifies the Irish Times
or the Mail; and thus The Freeman
pays for its piety. I have also read
your Lordship's reply to the Limerick 2 Guardians. It nicely supplements
your reply to Sir John Maxwell.
Those good persons have been brought
up, and are so much in the habit
of thinking of, & of dealing with
the Anglican Church as a department
of the Civil service, that he thought
he was making quite a natural
& rightful claim in on you. That he
appealed to you lest he should have to
arrest the two priests is simply an
untruth; for I suppose that he has
no greater regard for a Limerick priest
than for a Dublin one; and a Fr Flanagan
of Ringsend was one of the first prisoners
made; and I believe that Fr Nevin of the
Passionists was also taken prisoner.

They were so blinded with anger that
he was as a mad bull rushing
blindly through the Country —
[questionable reading]
,as the poor old Doitin
used to quote from a Latin Grammar
he once learned. I suspect his is now
a sadder, and I hope a wiser man. People are going mad — I thought
I was a very mutual person, till the
Vui — Rutn told me some days ago that
Bp Dontonvialle (lately Bp in Canada,
now of the Oblates) had said to
a lady What can you think when the
Rutn of the Irish College is a Fenian!
I laughed at it; but I wrote to him
at once however. He wrote very apologetically
saying he did not remember it, & that he
was ready to do anything I asked — not
a very satisfactory, nor a very consistent answer 3 I wrote back today that what I wanted
was not an apology, but evidence of my
Fenianism; that presumably I should pass it
off without caring, but inasmuch as I am
intimately connected with a College here,
and with a hierarchy in Ireland, I cant
let it pass, specially as it was said by
one in his Lordship's position. He paid
me two visits in the mater. Although we
were very friendly, he will be more cautious
in future. I told him that I wanted no
apology; that he cant now prevent persons
whispering it as his authority. But if I
hear being whispered, I shall log
a formal complaint before the Pope and
Lord . De Lai. Here is another symptom of current
lunacy. they have been saying that the
Popes' recent telegram to Logue was
dictated by me. When they saw from 4 Irish College
Rome the papers that I had an audience
a few days ago, they said That
darn man has been with the Pope
again, after Lord Asquith They
[questionable reading] similarly because I happened
to have an audience a day or two
after Mr Asquith. And other things
equally foolish. It's not enough
to say nothing to or of them. One
deleted text must become a phonograph
or a parrot to speak their words,
deleted text
and a toy worked of wires to dance
to their tunes. We are very friendly;
but it is now new to them to find an
Irishman daring not to trouble about
them & have his own way. 5 This would be a rare occasion
to start a strong daily paper in
Ireland — strongly & truly national, and
House with Catholic instincts. If it
was controlled by a small but strong
Committee, giving a good Editor
a good deal of independence, it
would take the Country. I suppose
it could not be safely begun without
a capital of £50,000 or £60,000.
For it should make a strong spur
from the very start. If the Bishops
should think of such a project, you
can put me down for shares to
the extent of £200 or £300,
or more if necessary. If the Bps should
think of such a project, Dr Cleary, the Bishop of Auckland will be soon in Ireland. He will be a help for he is a
practised newspaper man

I enclose a Sermon I preached
in St Patricks Church on St Patrick's
Day. I was asked to prepare it for
publication; for I had not all written
before I preached it. But what is published
is practically the same as I spoke; in
fact is, I think nearly so, sentence for
sentence; for I had some parts written
out & committed to memory, and the rest
thought out with great care.
The Vice— Rector sent a few passages
to the Catholic Bulletin; but the Censor
excised some sentences abut the famine
— I draw a line about them on Page 22
& 23. & lest you should read them, &
have spirit & historical truth
damaged. I thought I was speaking
a well-known truth; but evidently
the Government representatives still think
the Irish famine was a real one, & not
one manufactured by them and their Garrison
in Ireland. 6 I have a long note on the matter, on
pages 32 — to 35, letter from Cardinal
Perrauds' — L'Irlande Contemporaire. It is printed accurately enough.
But there are several errors in
the notes; but they are quite illegible. I am my Lord
Yours obediently M O Riordan