The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-02-27

lie OONNEN5lON Vi lhELhNp ltOm AN
IsM,-When the Irish were converted to
the faith of Rome can scarcely be discov-
cred Until the opening of the sixteenth
century they can hardly have felt any
boud of sympathy to the chair of St.
Peter, which had covered them with its
maledictions and condemned them to
slavery. The savage chiefs who ruled
the wild coasts of Ulster aud the wide
bogs of Cennaught, with their uncultivat-
cd and warlike people, knew at least that
the bishops Of Rome had ever been their
bitterest enemies, and that the English
within the pale relied upon the papal bull
as the chief ground of their usurpation.
1t was remembered, no doubt, that the
Romsh priests had taught that an Irish
man might be killed like dog, and that
Franciscan friars had urged the extirpa.
tion of the Irish race. 1t is possible, it
is almost certain, that the native chiefs,
until the opening of modern history, owed
no allegiance to Rome, and that the Inish
Church, endeared to the native Celts by
ages Of persecution, still ministered by its
primitive bishops, and, with Colmau and
Columbia, traced its authority to Ephesus
and St. John. But all this was now to
change. A reformation had passed over
Europe, and the chief leaders Of the re.
ligious movement were Henry and Eliza
beth, the prosecutors Of the Irish name.
The English within the pale had become
Protestants, but they showed no disposi-
tion to abandon the island which they
had received from St. Peters patrimony
and in the vigorous reign of Elizabeth
the English armies, renewed by the fresh
impulses Of progress, began to press once
more upon the limits of Celtic independ-
ence. The conquest, begun nearly four
centuries before, was now slowly advanc.
ing. Laws of unusual severity were en-.
acted tauistry aud other Irish usaget
we're abolished. 1t was plainly the de-
sign Of the English queen to reduce the
island to passive subsection to her
power.
The cause of this fresh assault upon
tho liberties of Ireland was the restless
intrigues of the Jesuits. In that gallant
struggle which Elizabeth was destined tc
wage for the safety of her crown and her
life against the pope, the Spaniards, the
adherents of Mary Of Scotland, and al
Romish Europe, the most active and most
dangerous of her foes were ever the dis
ciples Of Loyola, TO ruin aud break
down every Protestant government, tc
cover with discord aud slaughter every
Protestant land, and from the wreck oi
nations to build up spiritual empire as
tyrannical and as severe as was that oi
Tiberius or Nero, was then. as now, the
secret or open aim of every Jesuit. TC
wound or to destroy Elizabeth the socie
ty began its disastrous labors in Ireland
The Jesuits. in various DISCUSSES, peno
trated to the courts of the native chiefs
They reused the fires of national an
tipathy; they scoffed at the Saxons a
heretics they allured the Irish to aban
don forever the usages ofSt. Patrick ant
to ally themselves with the Italian Churcl
they promised the natives the protection
Of St. neter, the shield of Mary, the bles
sing Of the pope, and the military aid o
all Catholic Europe, if they would ris
once mora in grand crusade against tn
Euglish of the pale and drive the Saxon
from their soil.
The alluring vison painted by the skill
full touch of the unsparing Jesuits drev
on the Celtic chieftains to their ruin
Not satisfied with the possession Of three
fourths of the island, with the enjoymen
of their own laws aud their own faith
with the prospect OF gradual improve
meut and peaceful union with their Eu
glish masters of the pale, tho impulsiv
people accepted the offers Of Rome ,threV
themselves at the pontiff's feet, and be
came, for the first time, the willing in
struments Of the Jesuits and the popei
They may be excused, if not forgiven
Their schools had long been swept away
their people had sunk into ignorance
history, poetry, and music had give
place to the ceascless turmoil of borde
war. Rome stretched forth its cuunin
hand to extirpate the Irish Church, anC
after four centuries Of violence. succeed
ed at last by fatal fraud.-From "Th
. Conquest of Ireland" by EUGENE Law
RENEE, in Harper's Magazine for Octc
Der,