The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1872-11-01
James 4nthOIty FTOuCte.

This distinguished historian is now III
this country, and is delivering a course of
lectures on British rule in Ireland. lie Of
course views the matter from an English
stand point, and justiiics all the wrongs
which for centuries England has inflicted
on the people of the Emerald Isle. 1t will
be hard for Mr. Froude, able and talented
though he is, to bring the great body of
the American people to his way of thinking
upon this subject. Our people believe in
the right of local self government, and they
believe if this principle was applied to Ire
land to-day it would prove a benefit to Eng
land as well as to the Irish people. There
is no one who desires to see Ireland set up
as an independent kingdom or republic.
No necessity for that now exists. But she
should have the right, through home
parliament to enact her own local laws.
We believe that this right accorded to Ire
land would make her the most loyal pOr-
ton of the British empire. In this way
England could bind Ireland to her for all
time to come. When Mr.. Froude tells an
American audience that England's course
toward Ireland i'll the past has been actu-
ated by political necessity, he flies in the
face of history. There never yet existed
any necessity for the proscrptive course
by England towards the Catholics of Ire
land. Mr.. Froude must know that at one
time in the history of Ireland, and it was
not in what modern writers style the clark
ages either, price was offered by the
laws made by an English parliament for
the government of Ireland, upon the head
of Catholic priests. This too, when, as
now, the great body of the Irish people were
devout Catholics. When Henry VIII. cut
loose from the Roman Catholic Church,
followed by the great body of the English
bishops and clergy, all ireland, herbishope,
her clergy and people stood 10y the old faith,
and they have clung to it from that day to
this. For this they have suffered ages of
persecution. The apOState king used all
his power to destroy Catholicism in Ireland,
| and subsequent sovereigns and Parliaments
of England have done the Same. Can this
| system of wrong and oppression be Justi-
! fed upon the plea of political necessity
! There are many other questions which it
! might be pertinent to ask in relation to
! English rule in Ireland. II that rule is
| beneficial to Ireland, rs Mr. FrOude would
! have us think, why is it that for hundreds
! of years the Irish, who are proverbial foI
! their ardent love of their native soil, have
| left the land of their forefathers in multi
| tudes? What was ii that in olden times
sent the O'Donnells e4iles into Spain p
| What was it that drove the brave and Chi
yalrous Sarsfield, with thousands Of follow
! ers, to seek service under a French king!
| What policy is it that has in our day driv,
n from old Ireland the thousands upon
tn, 1sands who have sought refuge on ouI
shores We answer-English injustice
and misrule. That is the lesson We have
learned by = study of the history of Eng
land and IreIs. 4 both. 1t is = lesson that
has sunk deep H., our heart, and lesson
that we can never Ut orn. i ne arguments
which Mr.. Froude use4 arc no doubt pow
erful and convincing. II is great his
fnr{ar anI a Anav, thinlnr 'IIt ne nv
no means the first man of his lass who
has used his great ability to defenu wrong,
We believe firmly and Teligiously Il. Ehe
political doctrine that every people uno>
the sun should have the right of local self
government. We are not among those
who indulge in wild dream of Ireland's $
absolute independence of England. The
countries perhaps are too near together to
be separated. This much, however we do
claim, and that is SO far as the home rule
of Ireland is concerned, let the Irish peo-
pie govern themselves through representa-
uveS chosen by themselves. She could at
the same time be held in her position as a
member of the great British empire, her
people ever ready and willing ut all times
to do her part in upholding the mighty fab
ric. While England permits her colonies
all around the globe to make their own
laws through their home legislatures, she
persists in refusing this privilege to the
Irish. We live in the faith that the time
is not far distant when England's policy
toward Ireland will undergo a change for
the better. 1t never would however if the
opinions of such men as Mr.. Froude pre-
vail. He will find that he has difficult
task to perform to change the current of
American sympathy in regard to Ireland
and the Irish PEOPLE. England's injustice
and tyranny is closing ard the day of free
dom breaking. The policy Of England is
becoming more liberal. There is a dispo-
sition on the part of the English people,
and on the part of some of her most en-
lightened statesmen, to break through old
customs and traditions, to apply remedies
to existing evils, and to set aside old abuses.
In fact the spirit of liberty is asserting its
sway over tho Anglo-Saxon mind.-Iitus-
rifle Courier.
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