FROM THE ARCHIVES:The appointment of William Walsh as Archbishop of Dublin in 1885 was seen as a victory for nationalist Ireland against efforts to dissuade the Vatican from selecting him. Among the clerical and political speakers welcoming the new archbishop at a meeting in the Pro-Cathedral was nationalist MP and lord mayor-elect, TD Sullivan, who had this to say .–
JOE JOYCE
YOU, SIR, have not only welcomed our new Archbishop and spoken of him in high and well-deserved terms, but you have courageously and wisely included within the scope of the address reference to the condition of this country, reference to the wants and to the legitimate demands of the Irish people. You have said you believed any Irishman who could take exception to the terms of that address, and I would say any Catholic Irishman for whose feelings that address would be too strong, is unworthy of the name of Irishman. (Applause.)
It is true that for a time this appointment was in suspense, and that a feeling of intense anxiety pervaded the Irish people. It is a good sign that that should be the case. There are countries in Europe in which the appointment of an archbishop would be treated with indifference. Happily that is not so by our Catholic nation.
It is a good sign of the warm and of the loving faith of the Irish people, and of the strength of the ties that bind the people to their clergy, that this appointment of Archbishop Walsh to the See of Dublin was a matter of the deepest possible concern to the Irish people. That anxiety of the Irish Catholic people arose from the circumstances that a Roman Catholic was known to be trying to interfere in this matter. It is bad enough when Catholic Powers and Catholic people attempt to intrude in that sacred domain, and in the presence of the learned ecclesiastics here to-day, who will correct me if I am wrong, I say that most of the troubles of the Church have come from such unauthorised and improper dictation and interference. (Applause.)
Such interference is improper even on the part of Catholic rulers and Catholic States – how much more dangerous when we find that a non-Catholic Power, which can have no sympathy with the Catholic Church, which can have no concern for its interests or glory, has attempted to interfere in such a manner as the placing of an archbishop in such a diocese as this. (Applause.)
Such Powers have no right to interfere. The English Government may be a very good judge of an admiral competent to bombard Alexandria or of a general to lead troops to enslave the people of the Soudan [sic]; but when it comes to the appointment of an archbishop I deny that they have any right to interfere. (Hear, hear.)
Such interference was resisted in former times – our ancestors fought against it, and it would ill become Irish Catholics now to suffer the imposition of such a chain on their necks as our forefathers in times of persecution and suffering would not endure.
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