The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-03-18

itiSutullHuS WHICH sprung up S0on alter ncr
conversion that Ireland has justly received
the title Of "Island of Saints" She also
merits the title Of "b1sulG Doctoru,a !"
| Gsand Of learned men) because to religion
| she united science. From the fifth to the
| eighth century Southern Europe and Bri-
tain were invaded by hordes of barbarians.
Meantime Ireland enjoyed comparative re-
pose, and became the seat of learning for
many Of the youth Of Europe and England.
Among the students that patTonized the
schools of Ireland was Alfred the Great, Of
England. Hence, if England can boast Of
her Constitution, us well she may though
think Ireland has reason to complain Of the
manner in which it has been expounded to
| her), leave you to infer how much that
| country is indebted to Ireland, where Alfred,
the father of English liberty, drank deep at
| the fountain whence he imbibed O love Of
| religion and civil liberty.
Irish apostles carried the torch of faith to
distant parts of Europe. An Irish scholar
| founded the Universities of Paris and Payia.
| Irish missionaries could be found on the
| banks Of the Danube and on the Apprentices.
They spread the Gospel in Denmark, Swe-
| den, Norway, Gaul, Switzerland, and the
| low countries. And is not Ireland repeat
| ing to-day the same apostolic work in the
United States, Australia, and other couu-
| tries?
Descendants of ireland, whatever may be
| said of Irish misrule, which has led to so
much forced emigration, adore in silence the
| mysterious finger of God, who is pleased to
make you the instruments Of His mercy in
the propagation of the gospel. Say with
Joseph, banished to Egypt, at is not by
the counsels Of men that we were sent
| hither, but by the will of God, who hath
| made us His humble instruments In the sal
| vation of souls" And may not apply to
you in literal sense what St. Paul in u
qualified sense said to the Romans Il give
thanks to my God that your faith is spoken
of in the VIII Die world"
If YOU are denied the privilege Of placing
the harp. your national banner, over the
arsenals and public buildings of your weep
ing country, to you is assigned. above all ma
tions of the earth. the higher honor of plant
ing the cross, the emblem of salvation, in
every country throughout the globe.
| But what is to the immortal credit of Ire
land, the faith, once established, took such
| deep root in the hearts of the people that ii
nerer could bc erddicdted, but continues as
fresh and green as the hills Of their own
Emerald isle. "Alone," says Lord Macaulay,
the English historian, "alone among the
mort hcrn nations, the Irish adhered to the
ancient faith.'
| The great religious revolution of the six
tecnth century swept like a torrent over
Northern Europe, drawing several nations
away from the old landmarks Of faith. More
than half of Germany followed the teachings
Of the new apostles. Switzerland bowed to
! tie same new ideas and Sweden, Denmark,
Norway, Iceland, Scotland, and England
| yielded to the same influences. The faith
even Of France long trenbIed in the balance.
How did it fare with Ireland all this time
"Oft doomed 10 death, though tated not to
die" Though tried as no other nation was
| tried before or since, she passed through the
| terrible ordeal, like the children in the fiery
| furnace, with the garment Of faith as white
| and unsulied as when she put it on in the
day of her baptism.
| shall not harrow your feelings by a detailed
| account Of the religious prosecutions your
country suffered during the last three centu-
| ries, but shall content myself with pasSing
notice of the trials which Ireland underwent
| during the Cromwellan invasion in the
| middle of the seventeenth century. l quote
| exclusively from English historians who are
above the suspicion OF partaity.
The policy of Cromwell was to depopulate
| Ireland by the utter determination Of the
ancient race, and to colonize it with people
Of different country and religion. Forty
| thousand brave officers and men, the bone
and sinew of the land, were compelled to
| leave the country and seek refuge in France,
Spain, Austria, and the Republic of Venice,
where they fought with provcrbial valor in
defence of their adopted country. AT Il SUBJ
scqupnt period, in the hattle OF Fontenoy,
when England and France Were engaged in
| war, and when Irish heroiSm. ut a critical
moment. turned the scales of victory on the
| side of the French. we'll could George ii, on
hearing of his defeat and its cause, eXclairn,
"Woe to those laws that robbed me Of such
subjects" One hundred thousand women
and children were driven to the seashore,
packed in ships like sardincs, and sent to
the West Indies.
| The large landed proprietors that remained
at home were deprived Of their possessions.
and many of them put to death. They were
not allowed to have or to carry weapons, and
if they crossed the limits prescribed to them
they were liable to be shot down without
J warrant OF law.
Education was denied them unless pur.
chased with the loss of faith. Insult was
added to injury. The people were robbed of
| their possessions and were tauntcd for their
poverty. They were deprived of the facility
| of education and insuted for their want of
learning.
The clergy Of Ireland met with far worse
fate than the people. If the people were
beaten with rods, the clergy were scourSed
with scorpions. They were obliged, under
penalty OF death, to pursue their studies in
foreign scminaries. Any priest who was dis
covered, on returning to his native country,
l y. i
| his hiding-place had both his ears cut of.
| And yet England, in spite of all these per.
seculions, could never succeed in uprooting
from the Irish heart his attachment to the
| sacred traditions Of his country. Like the
sturdy oak, the more it is exposed 10 winds
| and storms the more firmly it is rooted in the
ground: so was the national faith more firmly
planted in the hearts of the people the more
| they were exposed to the storms of persccu
| ton.
Robbed of everything clse--of possessions
| of liberty. of life-your foretathers clups
with death-like tenacity to the precious jewel
of faith, clasping it in death, just as the dy-
| ing soldier embraces on the battlefield the
image of his mother hanging about his neck
NV brethren. the history of your country
is inseparable from her faith, and hence
! YOU cannot be true to your fatherland win
out being true to your religion. You cannon
record glorious page.of Irish history, with
ont recording at the same time the sulierings
aud triumphs of the Irish Church.
The Catholic Church is as intimately IN
terwoyen with the annals of Irish history as
the golden threads which are interviewer III
a. piece of cloth and Us the tibres OF the
gold give beauty and brilliancy to the tissue,
SO the ecclesiastical annals Of Ireland, inter
twined with her secular history, lmpart TO
| :. I--.ll;.,.z ;,,toract and hrirhtCn every