IRELAND AND THE CORONATION.
CATHOLIC Ireland is taking occasion of the inauguration of peace in South Africa and the coronation of Edward VII. to manifest its opposition to British rule in general, and to the conduct of the South African war in particular. On June 5 Parliament voted to grant General Lord Kitchener £50,000 for his successful termination of the war. This was done on recommendation of King Edward, and despite the strenuous opposition of the Catholic representation in Parliament. The Irish leader denounced General Kitchener and his conduct of the war, until his voice was drowned in a storm of protests from other members. The city of Dublin shows its animosity by refusing to allow the decoration of the city in honor of the king’s coronation. Permission had been granted for the erection of poles and the display of streamers and banners; but the board of aldermen in regular session rescinded its former action and withdrew the permission. The same spirit was manifest also in the refusal of the lord mayor of Dublin to attend the coronation ceremony as the representative of the city. When the lord mayor’s decision was made known, the high sheriff declared his intention of attending himself as the municipal representative. Thereupon a majority of the municipal council met, indorsed the action of the lord mayor, and repudiated the authority of the high sheriff to attend the coronation ceremonies in the capacity of Dublin’s representative. They also voted to expunge the name of the high sheriff from the roll of the party to which he belonged. The old sore was not healed by the laborious visit of the good queen a few years ago; but the spirit of hatred seems to grow more bitter as the years go by, and Dublin, the center of this animosity, is determined that it will not be represented at King Edward’s coronation. The king’s anti-catholic oath is, of course, one of the irritating causes of the present intensity of feeling.