XVIII. Bishop Moriarty on disestablishment and the union, 1868

Extract

The following letter is to be found among the Gladstone papers in the British Museum. Its recipient, William Monsell, M.P. for county Limerick and one of the most prominent Irish liberals, evidently felt it was of sufficient interest to send on to the leader of his party. At the time it was written, Gladstone had already declared himself in favour of disestablishment, though as he was still in opposition he was not yet in a position to give effect to his sympathies.

It comes as no surprise to find Dr Moriarty holding the opinions that he proclaims in this letter. The bishop of Kerry was well known as a staunch advocate of the British connexion. He had been the fiercest of all the bishops in his denunciations of fenianism; and a few years later he was publicly to condemn the home rule movement. But in none of his published utterances, probably, did he state so frankly the reasons for his point of view. In a public manifesto addressed to a people critical of his ideas, he would have concentrated on those arguments which might have some appeal for them. In a private letter such as this one, addressed to a person in full sympathy with him, he was hindered by no diplomatic considerations from giving a frank account of his opinions.