, 1867-03-22
NUMBER Ia.

.
was witne sed Of Irish chiefs aud ex-Kiny,.
sitting foe the Grst time in council With
English Lords. An act was then passed
declaring Henry VIII anil his successoifas !.
Kings ot Ireland \ general amnesty Was
lssuei ani "Ihere were M lde in the CITY
great bonires, wine was set in the strrcts.
aud there was great icastins in the houses &"
In l55l, an Irish corps, of 1000 hen. pr.A
! ceeded under the nephew Of Ea.l Arm.,nd
to JOIN the English army, and fight the batt>
les Of that nation which had DESTROYED and
trampled under foot the liberties Of their
! country. As those men were volunteers.
their conduct displays in vivid culors the
leading characteristics Of the Irish nation.
viz, iOrgetIu'neSs and forgiveness of past
grievances and willingness to shake hands
with late enemy when the fight is ended,
Aud slnca that tim, strange as it may ap>
pear, the flower OF the British army has at
all times consisted Of Irish soldiers.
But time admonishes me to pass over a
thousand stirring evrn;s-tyrdnnies and op.
presslOn-heaped uuon the Irish nation (or
rather what was once the Irish natiDn), and
L pass from Henry VIII to the reign Of
James H. After enduring many and re.
peated injuries at the hands Of intermediate
Kings, the Catholic Irish, who were in the
majority, hailed the accession of James to
the throne with unbouuded joy, aud in like
proportion was the depression of the Protes.
tants, who were principally descendants of
Norman England, who had sett, d upon the
cOnfscated estates il Ireland. james at,
tempted to remedy the evils under Rhich tho
Catholics had long labored, hat in the al,
tempt he brought down upon his feeble head
the entire opposition Of the Protestant ele.
ment of both England and Ireland, which
resulted in an invitation being extended to
William, j ince Of Orange, to return and
accept the throne Of England This sch sme
Ut the Protestants gave rise to the organiza.
ton Of the secret order known as 'Orange.
men," which has existed in Ireland, and
symPathized with England, ever since. On
the arrival Of William, afterwards known rs
William Ill, james, finding his army dis
affected, fed to France aud claimed the pro.
lection Of Louis XIV. His flight was pro-
nouaced an abiication, and William was pro.
claimed King. Scotland acqaiesced, but
Ireland still continued to recognize james
as the legitimate sovereign. The result was
long aud bloody war, ending in the tri6mph
ot William and the extension Of the Church
Of England over Ireland-an institution
which has continued for three centuries 10
keep the people in poverty, to foster a re,
llgion TO which nine-tenths of the people arc
opposed. All The estat of Catholics who
had adhered to James, were confscated and
passed into the hands of Englishmen, many
Of whom were ccclesastcs in the Church of
England. About this time England set uo
the right to bind Ireland, in all cases what
Soever, by the laws Of the British Govern,
mcnt without the assent of the Irish Parli,-
ment; aud, as is toNday the case with nearly
one half the States of the American Union,
where a similar legislative b .dy asserts the
same claim, the people who had but just
emerged from long aud bloody struggle had
not the power TO resist, and but feebly pro-
tested And thus the last link was forged
and put into requSition, that was to make
Ireland an abject, dependant culony ppop
England. The land was so distributed thIt
out Of every six hundred and forty inh ,bir.
ants, but one individual had an ownership
in the soil, and the people became for their
cOnquerors and strangers, virtually hewes
Of wood and drawers Of water j. or, in other
words, slaves to the British landed aristOr
racy.
William passed from the stage, and Auns
ascended the throne and gave her royal con-
sent to the bill for the exclusion of every
catholic in the realm from participation in
any manner, 10 the affIirs of the Govern
Al H. Il.
wherein person was required to disclairh
all conne1iOn or sympathy past or present
with the catholic fLlth or the pretenslOns Of
James to the throne; a test, which excluded
almost four fiLhs of Ireland from any rights
whatever under the Government, and gave
a privileged class the right to control every
thing their own way. Burke pronounced
the bill ga machine Of nice and elaborate
contrivance, and as well fitted for the op,
preston, impoverishment aud degradation Ut
a people and the debasement in them Of
human nature itself, as ever proceeded from
the perverted ingenuity OF man." FROM thh
time until Engand. became involved in war
with her American Colonies by attempting
to enforce her odious system Of taxation
without representation, the poor, and espect
ally the Catholics, of Ireland suffered wrongs
which are yet unatoned. In l778, England
relaxed her rigor and modified her Odious
laws, but again, in 1888, when her troops
had returned from America, and she had
nothing to fear IRON an uprising OF the Irish
people, she renewed her cowardly legislation,
and laws more Objectionable and harsher
still, if possible, were passed, until, after
years OF oppression, the people broke forth
in grand struggle, in 1888, to free them>
selves from the British yoke, but the inaI-
euee OF of"Oraugemap" prevented any concert
Of action, and the only result was the loss Of
the lives of many of the best SONS of Ireland,
and riveting the chains Of oppression, desp,
otisn and tyranny 6ruer, If possible, thap
before. Tie next rebellion occurred 10
1S4S, under the leadership of Meagher, Nit
chel and others, aud failed, not because tho
people united we're unable to cope with Eng,
and, bat beclIse such unaniuity at that
time could not be accomplished. tl
have thus hastily reviewed the history
r. Ill -x.l. \ N