Scathlan 1

could find their main moral support and thus to drawthese governments into a system of diplomatic alliances with the Holy See. Lord Salisbury, Prime Minister, seized the opportunity offered, and Balfour, his nephew and instrument of his Roman policy, made known to an eager Cardinal Rampolla (appointed Secretary of State, 1 June, 1887) that the British Government might be willing to offer, successively, a satisfactory outcome to Irish Catholics demands for a university and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Britain and the Holy See. The price demanded was one which neither Rampol!a nor even Leo, both supporters of 'legitimate' government, might consider excessive: the withdrawal of the Irish bishops and clergy from support of Home Rule and the land agitation. The agents of Balfour's negotiations with Rome, especially the earl of Denbigh and Father M. Baynard Klein, a native of Alsace and professor at the Royal University, were soon representing the pastor of Gweedore and his youthful bishop as obstacles to progress in the negotiations . In doing so, they were carrying out the directives of Balfour, who was keeping a close eye on McFadden's behaviour. But their opinions coincided with his. Dr. Klein, Denbigh, and other interested English and Irish Tory Catholics had taken heart from the fact that it was acknowledged that in the election of. the American President Harrison the Irish vote had played an important part. They wished the British government to see the Irish as a strong, constitutional force in Anglo-American politics, dedicated to 'law and order'. This explained their fear of McFadden and his extra-parliamentary agitation. · Thus it was that in December 1888 Rampolla sent strong directives to both Cardinal Manning and Bishop O'Donnell aimed at preventing McFadden from undertaking a projected lecture-tour, sponsored by Liberals, in England. (The directives arrived too late). James McFadden was by now a well-known public figure and when he shortly became fnvolved in a murder-trial public interest in England and Ireland in his case, the 'Gweedore Trials', was intense. Not so well-remembered as the 'Mitchelstown Massacre', the Gweedore Case was yet one · of the highlights of the land war fought by the . National League, and its repercussions were felt far afield, in Britain, America, and Australia. As late as 1953 H. Montgomery Hyde, the biographer of Lord Carson, presented McFadden as an odious, arrogant figure. Distric! Inspector Martin met his death on 3 February 1889. Pronnaias 0 Gallchair History of Landlordism in County Donegal, has described in vivid detail the events surrounding the tragedy. As usual in such cases a tangle of legends invests the affair (even to stories of omens appearing beforehand). Different 'authorities' give different accounts of the killing. Again, as commonly happens in human affairs, a certain amount of imprudence on all sides - on that of Fr. McFadden, of the el1raged people who clubbed the D.I. to death, and not least of the ·unfortunate Martin himself - res·ulted in a tragedy which the employment of good sense all around might have avoided. The bishop had urged his pastor to be moderate: the pastor, confident in his ability to control the passions of his flock, was yet careful not to arouse those passions to high pitch, and the offence for which he 48.