American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-03-15

scenery, how united, cOntented and
happy were your people. The
naughty invader and plunderer had
not yet landed on your soil YOU
fields were not yet desolaied your
children were not yet butuhered' or
enslaved; your sacred temples were
not yet stained by the blood of the
innocent babes and detenceless
women; your sons were not yet
armed by cunning foreign foe for
their mutual destruction.
Ireland for more than three humid
red years after the death of st.
Patrick, was the home and refuge
of scholars and saints from all the
then known world. Men came from
every cline to light the lamp of
knowledge from the bright fires
which were burning in Ireland
alone during those three centuries.
The Vandal had ravaged and DESC
lated the West and centre of Eu-
rope. The Saracen had swept over
the East, and the Goth and the
MuSulnan had laid waste Africa
and the Southeast. AIurky ignor
ance and barbarism accompanied
the invaders. Ireland was spared
from this deluge, and was, by divine
Providence, made the means of
preserving civilization and re- estab-
fishing it among the human race.
The BrltOns were subdued by the
SaxOns, the latter by the Danes and
the Danes were expelled by the
Saxons; and during this period the
state of learning in England was
extremely low. The youths went
to Ireland to receive that polish
which had entirely disappeared
from their own country. Among
the number was Alfred the Great,
King of England, than whom a bet
ter or wiser monarch never lived or
reigned. He laid the foundation of
the liberties which the English ma
ton now possess. Alfred learned to
play on the harp in Ireland, and all
persons that ever read the history
of England know to what great use
he applied this accomplishment in
expelling the barbarous Danes from
his country. He disguised himself
as poor peasant and with his harp
he discOursed sweet music" and
so charmed the savage Danes, that
he had free access to their camps,
and learned all their plans and de-
signs.
1 now come to the time of the first inyas-
ion of Ireland by foreign fee The Danes
invaded Ireland about the close of the
eighth century. These daring invaders be-
fore their first incursion into Ireland, had
overrun and pluudered England, Germany,
France and Spain. They alarmed and ter
rihed all Europe. They observed none of
the usual conditions of warfare; gave no
quarter; spared neither sex, age nor con-
dition they were the avowed enemies of
science, and they made it their especial
duty to destroy all books and literary COL
lections. They waged a savage, desolating
and almost continuous war with the natives
for nearly three hundred years. At length,
on Good Friday, in the year A. d. 1914, the
giants of rapine, of lust and of plumber, and
the enemies of religion and civilization
were defeated in the celebrated battle of
Clontarf near Dublin. Citric was the COM
mander of the Danish troops, whilst the
venerable Brian Borhoime, King of Mum
ster, then over eighty years old, command
ed the Irish. My friends, mark the true
Christian spirit which prevails in the fol-
lowing address delivered by the old hero to
his son and heir to his crown, at the close
of the battle. How very different from and
superior in religious feeling is this address
of the venerable patriot, when compared
with the proclamatiops and general and
special orders OF monarchs and commanders
of more recent times.
"My son, leave victory in your hands.
Secure the independence of your country,
and preserve its honor. But, whilst flushed
with success, do not permit unnecessary
destruction save the vanquished and
restrain the spirit of revenge. A God of
mercy has been our protector. He who bled
on Calvary has shed the lus;re of glory on
our harp. Frequently have his mercies been
extended to US since the blessed Patrick
first published his holy name at Tara; but
never, my son, has he been more bountiful
than this occasion, on the anniversary of
that day when by his own blood, he took
away sin from his people, he has enabled
US to wash away pollution from our shores
with the blood of the oppressors of our
country. go, my son, in til name of the
people, to return thanks for his benefits.
go alone, unarmed, to the foot of that cross
which / have erected in my tent, there to
pour out my soul in gratitude, and to dis
charge those great duties of religion which
the solemnity of the day requires. To you,
my son, l leave my army, my blessing, and
my instruction to remember mercy in the
day of triumph remember the glories of
our forefathers remember the injunction of
our God"
The barbarians, before their expulsion,
destroyed morality, crushed religion and
national prosperity, and caused to be
severed the bonds of union which united
together the monarchs of Ireland.
We shall next dwell n little on the most
important, and to Ireland unfortunate, era
of her history. About the year l172, Dermot
MacMurrough, King of Leinster, seduced
another mans wife-the Prince of Breffny
and all the kings of Ireland united and
banished the detestab lie adul serer from their
country, proclaimiag that no such a
depraved man should dwell on their SOIL
will here digress by saying, that matter
how our race may be traduced and SANDER
ed, it must be admitted, that the Irish
women are as pure and virtuous as any in
the world, and among no other peasantry
are their fewer illegitimate children or less
prostitution than among the poor down
troddeu peasantry of my native land. In
reading statistics, quoted from government
" blue-books," find from a late census,
taken by order of the English parliament,
the general state of morals in England,
Scotland, and Ireland, to be as follows
3" The proportion of illegitimate births 10
the total humber of births is, in Ireland
3.s per cent. in England is GA in Scot.
land 3 8; in other words, the virtue of the
Irish women is twice AS good as that of
the English women, and three times better
than the Scotch. But there will be a stray
sheep from every flock, and the stray one
which brought so much misery and