Sta,-During the course of this war we have heard much talk of the rights of oppressed minorities; there are committees for the rehabilitation of almost every nation in Furope, Poles, Czechs, Greeks, and so on. Is it not time there was a committee for the lehabilitation of the 400,000 Catholics in North Ireland?
Here is an oppressed minority within our own gates. How dare we presume to dictate at a Peace Conference until we have removed this terrible stain? Do we ever hear of the rights of citizenship conscience, of law of a Catholic in North Ireland? Has he any such rights, any legal rights?
May I appeal to you, Sir, to bring home to every Catholic in particular and to every Englishman worthy of. the name the outrages and rampant injustice of the Special Powers Acts? Professor J. L. Briefly, 0.B.E., has stated that these Acts amount to an abrogation of the rule of law as Englishmen have Understood that method of government.
Is it not time an open coniclernnation was made of officially approved " packed " juries, gerrymandering of elections, the usual adjunct to advertisements for jobs, "No Catholic need apply," internment which makes our own 18b Regulation appealmild?
It is time for all noble Englishmen to arise and apply to our fellow Catholics in North Ireland the four freedoms of which we have heard so much. Or is the Atlantic Charter to he applied only to Continental Europe? Should we not exiend the benefit of democracy first to our fellow citizens and then to those outside our country? Does not charity begin at home? •