The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-07-23

MUkNlNG ETAk AND CATHe
parade with banners and transparencie
covered with ribald abuse Of Luther o
Wesley, Of Methodists OF Baptists, will
foul allusions to distinctive tenets of an.
citizens religious belief, how soon woul'
they find themselves not only sued TO
damages, not only punished for misde
neanor, but prohibited from repeating sucl
an outrage!
We insist, however, that Orangeism is no
principally religious issue, but only second
arily SO. Its essence 10 political. 1t is no
intended to insult Catholics generally, ant
is not 80 regarded by them. German Ca
tholics look on such exhibitions as foreign
to their interests. American Catholics d.
not feel themselves in the slightest degree
attacked by them except through theil
sympathy with Irish friends or relations
and English Catholics, particularly those
OF an Indifferent stamp, would certainly
feel like siding with the Orangemen, and
why Because Orangeism is the emblem, o,
British supremacy orer Ireland.
1t must be remembered that from the
days of Cromwell to those of William III.
the systematic policy of England was to
confiscate the estates of the Irish gentry
and bestow them upon English retainers.
Many of the adventurous followers of Will
liam of Orange, Scotchmen, Dutchmen,
Hessians etc., found themselves in posses
sion of the estates of the O'Neils,
the O'Briens, the Tyrconnells, and hun
dreds more of the old Irish families,
without show of Justice or legality
in their titles. Not only 80, but all the
Offices of the land were theirs. They
were the carpet-baggers of Ireland. They
ruled the people with a rod of iron, and
ground them into the dust with taxation
and exactions. In all this they were sus-
tanned by the British Government, because
by such policy only could England keep
Ireland in bondage. They, being the vas
sells of England, were her most loyal
friends, and eventually formed their leagues
and secret associations, their Orange asso-
citation, to maintain the supremacy of Eng
land and the possession Of their own ILL
gotten spoils.
1t is NO wonder, then, that they enjoy
the unbounded hatred of real the Irishman;
not only that intense hatred of England
which so generally animates him, but,
superadded thereto, bitter sense of their
own personal persecution, wrong and trea-
son. When an Orsngeman appears as such
in Ireland, in public, it is as much as to
say, 81 am master, you are slaves" When,
be plays the Battle of the BoyDe," or
" Croppies lie down." he says distinctly,
" We conquered you there, and we spurn
you now" 1t is a pean of triumph on the
one hand and elicits on the other the angry
flush, the quick fash of the eye which an
taunt always provokes. Even
England has finally made law to put
down Orange professions, as being too in
sultiDg and provoking. What, then, is the
horror of the Irish exile to find that here,
in the boasted asylum of America, lie is
followed by the old curse from which he
had been relieved, even at home' Here
he may be tainted, jeered at, insulted,
humiliated with the flag of King William
thrust in his face, and expected to stand
quietly by and look upon it all as a mere
exhibition of religious liberty.
Religious liberty to be brutal and I'M
manly, to practice ribaldry and indecency,
TO insult aud outrage fsllow-citizens under
military protection! Religious liberty for
knaves who mediate day and night the
most ingenious way to rob Catholics of
their rights and to destroy the substance
of religious liberty, while preserving, if
possible, its name. All Irishmen of New
York, if the war against the Southern
States were going On now, how different
would be the ideas of your neighbors about
Orangemen and religious liberty!
The Republicans Sermon.