The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-08-20

AIkSu COubtlUuClOU6I uOcrCy Oy WulCu Uucy
were animated stirs the souls of the living
generation. I had occasion, when con-
versing some time since, with my excell-
emit friend here MT. Galbraith) to say that
Irish nationality was indestructible, as
England has been vainly trying for seven
centuries to uproot it. eyes," replied my
reverend friend, Z" and we have also to OBJ
serve that sometimes for a while it seems
to be dormant, when it suddenly syringe
forth IS vigorously as ever" l now come
back to the Union. Pitt and Castlereagh
had their wicked triumph. The Union was
accomplished, although 7Oz 900 persons
petitioned against it, while only 5000
be induced to petition in it's favor. Saurin,
most able and sagacious lawyer, after
wards for many years Attorney General,
said that the Union so forced ON the people
would be o nullity, and that resistance to
it would be struggle against usurpation,
and not resistance to law.
ITS RESULTS.
William w. once pronounced the Union,
in q speech from the throne, to be the
great bond Of onr national strength and
safety. 1t is, on the contrary, the great
source of national weakness and danger.
Irishmen regard it as a crime clothed with
the garb of law. If it were designed by
Pitt to make Ireland hate England, it is not
possible that he could have devised any
measure better fitted to accomplish that
end. now proceed to consider the results
which it has produced in this kingdom.
Those results were pure, unmitigated evil.
Any benefit of whatsoever sort that Ire
land has obtained since 1900, has been
gained in spite of the Union, not because
Of it. When Mr.. Spring Rice was appoint
ed by the government to defend the Union
against O'Connell in 1884, he worked hard
to show the vast advantages that Ireland
derived from the Union. At that very
time it was shown by official returns that
2, 1886, 900 human beings, or more than one
fourth of the then population OF Ireland,
were destitute paupers for thirty weeks in
every year. They were paupers, precisely
because the Union had denuded the coun-
try of its wealth, had almost destroyed our
m .nufactures, and thrown the people
wholly for support upon the soil, had
drawn off the rich aristocracy to England,
and had, by abstracting the private in
comes and the public revenue of this king
dom to the annual amount of many mil
lions, reduced vast masses of the people to
state of AFFECT wretchedness.~-Af After
thirty four years. union with the wealthiest
country in the world, we were stripped 30
bare that more than every fourth individu
oil among us was pauper for thirty weeks
in every year. What contrast between
prosperity which, as Mr.. Secretary Cooke
said, was universally admitted to exist
under the constitution of 1882. In those
days there were not the modern facilities
for emigration; and, as the very last thing
that England would think of was the res
toration of the Irish constitution, the pa
rent and guardian of our national wealth,
the people could but starve at home, the
sole diet of multitudes being potatoes and
little sour milk, or frequently potatoes
aud water. In 1S45 we were visited with
the potato disease. The root which formed
the sole sustenance of some millions of our
people failed. In 1876 three hundred thou
sand people are computed to have persisted
from the famine. I charge upon the Union
the slaughter Of that vast multitude. 1t is.
of course, true that Home Government
could not have prevented the potato dis
ease. But it is equally true that Home
Government, if it were not for the plum
dering, beggarinS, emaciatiug Union,
would have retained in Ireland an amount
of national wealth, Il reserve of national
capital, which would have amply enabled
the Irish nation to tide over that great Ca
lamity without loss of life by famine, or
without being exposed to the degrading
necessity of accepting contributions from
the charitable and humane of the civilized
world. The aggregate of money drains
from Ireland between the Union aud the
date of the famine-that is, forty-six
years-would amount on very moderate
estimate to the sum of two hundred and
thirty millions OF pounds sterling, under
the three heads of absentee rental, export
ed taxes, and decay of native manufacture.
Had the Union not been inflicted on Ire
land, the greater part of this vast sum
would have been expended at home, diff
fusing an amount of Irish wealth among
the Irish people which would have afforded
them the means, not, indeed, of escaping
great distress under such q visitation, but
of preventing that distress becoming a
famine. Having mentioned the money
drain, will say few words on the fiscal
injustice which Ireland sustains from the
Union. In 1901 our national debt was
EOS, OOO, 600 sterling, while that of Great
Britain was $4,000, 600; or sixteen and
a-half times greater than ours. "The
British Minister wants Union," said MIR.
Speaker Foster, to tax you and take your
money where he fears your own represen-
tatives would deem it improper" Castle
reagh's immaculate soul recoiled from such
an imputation; and he declared with great
emphasis that Ireland should never be
called upon for a farthing of the pre- Union
debt of Great Britain. The only mode of
protecting Ireland from that debt was to
keep the two debts separated, and to tax
each country separately for the liquidation
of its own special liability The seventh,