ABSTRACT
A very important question has been started as to whether or not the fund now in course of collection under the Commission of her Most Gracious Majesty will be liable to any of those abuses in the management and distribution which too often render public charities mere agencies of proselytism. The Bishop of Clonfert touched on this point in his speech at the Loughrea patriotic meeting, intimating that there were grounds for apprehension, looking to former precedents. His Lordship on that occasion received from the Marquis of Clanricarde the strongest assurance that in the present case no such fear need be entertained. Many of our readers, however, will probably desire some more authoritative assurance than that of a Whig nobleman, who is not even a member of the Government. It would be desirable also to know how the patriotic fund of 1803 was managed in respect of proselytism, and whether the Royal Hibernian School in the Phoenix Park is to be the model of the institutions which will founded for the orphan children of our brave Catholic soldiers. The following, indirectly bearing on the point, has been forwarded us for publication:—
