John Mac Hale - Political Matters

Political Matters

The death of Daniel O'Connell (1847) was a deep sorrow to Dr. MacHale. He was also much grieved at the dissentions of the Repealers, and the violent tactics of the Young Ireland party, who would not listen to his wise and patriotic advice. In 1848, he visited Rome and by his representations to Pope Pius IX inflicted a deadly blow upon the proposed 'Queen's Colleges'. He also succeeded in preventing diplomatic intercourse between the British Government and Rome. The Synod of Thurles, held in 1850, emphasized the different views entertained by the hierarchy respecting the education question. On that occasion Dr. MacHale strongly protested against giving any countenance to a mixed system of education already condemned by the pope. During the recrudescence of "No Popery" in 1851, on the occasion of the re-establishment of the English Catholic hierarchy, and the passing of thr intolerant Ecclesiastical Titles Act that inflicted penalties upon any Roman Catholic prelate who assumed the title of his see, Dr. MacHale boldly signed his letters to Government on this subject "John, Archbishop of Tuam". This act of defiance so startled the Cabinet that it was considered more prudent not to attempt a prosecution and to allow the Bill to remain a dead letter.

As to the Catholic University, though Dr. MacHale had been foremost in advocating the project, he disagreed completely with Paul Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin (afterward Cardinal), concerning its management and control, and the appointment of Dr. Newman as rector. The want of concord among the Irish bishops on this question, and the honest but totally wrong opinions of Dr. MacHale, handicapped the new university. The archbishop approved of Tenant Right and also of the Irish Tenant League. He wrote to O'Connell's son that it "was the assertion of the primitive right of man to enjoy in security and peace the fruit of his industry and labour". At a conference held in Dublin, men of all creeds supported his views on "fixity of tenure, free sale, and fair rent". Though it is impossible to relate all the events of a life which the Freeman's Journal described as the history of Ireland for the greater part of the nineteenth century, enough has been written to show how by pen, word, and deed, "the Lion of Juda" endeavored to benefit his country. Toward the end of his life he withdrew very much from active politics, though he was happy enough to live to see the dawn of more prosperous days for Ireland.