But the differences which still sever the two great parties in Ireland
are not only economic but religious. The general slackening of
theological dispute which followed the weary years of religious warfare
after the Reformation, has never brought peace to Ireland. In England
the very completeness of the defeat of Roman Catholicism has rendered
the people oblivious to the dangers of its aggression. The Irish
Unionists are not monsters of inhuman frame; they are men of like
passions with Englishmen. Though they hold their religious views with
vigour and determination, there is nothing that they would like more
than to be able to forget their points of difference from those who are
their fellow Christians. It is perhaps necessary to point out once again
that the Roman Catholic Church is a political, as well as a religious,
institution, and to remind Englishmen that it is by the first law of its
being an intolerant and aggressive organisation. All Protestants in
Ireland feel deep respect for much of the work which is carried on by
the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. They gladly acknowledge the
influence of its priesthood in maintaining and upholding the traditional
morality and purity of the Irish race. They venerate the memories of
those brave Irish priests who defied persecution in order to bring
succour to their flocks in time of need. But they are bound to deal with
the present political situation as they find it. They are determined
that no Church, however admirable, and no creed, however lofty, should
be forced upon them against their wills. There is a dark side to the
picture, on which it is unnecessary to dwell. We have only to ask the
Nonconformists of England what would be their feelings were a Roman
Catholic majority returned to the British House of Commons.

In most of the articles in this book which deal with the religious
question; special stress is laid upon recent Papal legislation. The _Ne
Temere_ and the _Motu Proprio_ decrees have constituted an invasion of