Item 3 - Letter to Fr Gerald Manley Hopkins SJ from Cardinal John Henry Newman in reply to birthday wishes and the state of the country

Letter to Fr Gerald Manley Hopkins SJ from Cardinal John Henry Newman, following Fr Hopkins's letter for the Cardinal's birthday in which Fr Hopkins commented on the state of the country. The Cardinal replies, ‘Your letter is an appalling one, but not on that account untrustworthy. There is one consideration however, which you omit. The Irish Patriots hold that they never have yielded themselves to the sway of England and therefore never have been under her laws, and never have been rebels. This does not diminish the force of your picture, but it suggests that there is no help, or remedy. If I were an Irishman, I should be (in heart) a rebel. Moreover, to clinch the difficulty the Irish character and taste is very different from the English.’