The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-06-23
THE BALFE AND OTHER NATIONAL
MEMORIALS.
Dublin Nation, Jono /,

Dear Sir-Your instructive article on SiE
Robert Stewards promised lectures, with its
reference to the dlsgraoeful feilure in the Case
of the Balfe memorial, indirectly opeDs mp the
entire question as to national memorials II
must, fret Of ell, aud above all, be borne In
mind that to erect memorials money 10 re-
briog the Luxor obelisk to Paris. Over E2o,-
900 has been spent bringing Cleopstra's
Needle to London and IL We aim ut very
much less expensive memoriRls. even still
money must be aubscribed, and With no mig
gardly hand either. Now to look At sospe OF
our shortcomings straight in the face. Meth
or statue, obelisk. pyramid, nor colnmn has
Kinoora, or in Dublin and in contrast We
fnd the people Of England the other day IN
yelling statue of Alfred the Great at Wan.
tsge, in Berks, his reputed birthplace-a small
place Of about 1000 population: We must re-
collect Alfred and Brian were not contemporA-
riee, but that the great Saxon was nearly 100
years buried in Winchester ere the great
Cels was born.
To proceed-what steps have been taken to
mark the Yellow Ford or Benburb battle.
helds es places sacred to the Irish national
memory, or In honor of the two great captains
the Great and ven Ros9 Has Red Hugh
even o csirn in hiR own county Done9ali Yet
II was in 1897 the Yellow Ford was won, and
wSo the one great day for !respd Of
other something more than 200 years ego-ncS
very remote times truly bot II We look across
to Scotland We find n Wallace memorial
1305). and on tho field of Baunookburn,
fought in 1914, flagstaff has been erect
cd bearing sloft the "roysl liOn "-(her Me-
jesty, II mistake not, subsoribed to this).
Companions are odious. but surely in these
matters enumerated We come of bot poorly.
Let Limerick explain why the Sarsheld eques-
trlsn statue is not erected; let Mayo answer as
Home Rule Parliamentary party toll us whom
their John Martin tablet 10 to be put up, and
where and, II Waterford can, let it make .
clean breast of it and tell Irelsnd and America
how 1t came to pass that it conId not fittiDgly
commemorate MeSgher In either bronRa or
marble. To these queries I will add few
more. Why let Hogan's gem. Davis. fall to
pieces in Mount JeFomef When will the
O'ConneIl monument adorn Ssckville street
When will the O'Connell national memorial at
CAhirciveen be erected Are the graves of
M'Manus, John O'Mahony, aud Leo" to
main forever crying scandal in Glasnevin
And is Emmet, whose cen terary was so WORTH
ly celebrated both o. home and in the United
States, not TO bave statue opposite Catherine's
professions end bar quets at homo, are ali very
wells bat 1.-THE of the money lavished on
these would erect statuo to every eminent
man Ireland ever produced - ~, and mask
every copsecrated spot of Irish ground, too, be
IL battle field or martyr's grave. trust, cir,
you will not Imagine I wFite in apy captions
spirit, for yield 20 no man 10 Ireland in admi-
ration of the good and true men who steadily,
doing, good enduring work in perpetuatinR the
sacred memory of the great departed. All
honor to the men who gave us the Limerick
statue, aud even the b0tched tomb in Glasno.
vim. All honor to thoee who have placed Smith
0Brien at Carlisle bridge, Goldsmith and
DonstrOsity in College street. Especial honor
to A. n. Sullivan for the besutiful Grsttan in
College Green. Those silent, steady Workwen
will not be forgotten. The country will long
keep their memories green In its soul. Nor
will the men who, Ia different parts Of the
country, erected such n noriSls 80 the John Of
Tuam statne. the Cork Father Mathew statue,
the French Hill memorial in Mayo, and Colo
mel Leon ards monumeps, be forgotten. ALI
such work speaks for ifeolf, and will speak to
coming generations more emphaticAlly than TO
the present time. 'Tis gratifying TO know that
come of the 50 leaders have been properly
honored 10 their own lo0alities, that Wolfe
Tone's grave at Bodepstown has been we'll
looked after. and the Treaty stone ct Limerick
plaeed on handseme pedestal end elsVase6 "a
- S,k