The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-05-12

aVenges the save anu strlkes oo"n Ine ~
rant
His raillery does not pierce like q needle.
Similar to some ancient sacriticer, with
uplifted club, full in the front he strikes
his victim, and fels him groaniDg to the
ground.
See him gathering his indignation and
his strength when he relates the long histo
ry of the woes of his country, of her op
preston, of her misery when he invokes
from the tomb her noble heroes, and h'r
faithful citizens, who Redeemed with their
blood the scaffolds of Ireland, her lakes and
her plains; when he exposes to view the
lamen table spectacle Of liberty destroyed
by the English sword the soil of their an
eestors possessed by tyrants the govern
ment they instituted for them, and for them
only; the tribunals gorged with their
creatures; the juries corrupted, the parlia-
ments purchased, the laws stained With
blood, the soldiery become executioners
the prisons crowded; the peasantry crush
ed with taxes, brutalized by ignorance,
weakened by sickness and hunger, lank,
haggard, bent double, crouched on fetid
straw the huts near the palaces; the
insolence of the aristocracy; the unem.
ployed uncared for and unpitied; labor
without remuneration and without inter
mission martial law restored the liberty
of the press abolished I; the administration
Invaded by strangers the nationality alb
sorbed the Dissidenys unable to become
JUDGES, JuTynenJ Witnesses, atnuitautsI
Instructors or constables under penalty OF
nullity and even of death the Catholic
churches empty, bare, and without orna-
ments her priests beRgars ard prosecuted;
the Anglican Church with Joyous heart and
beaming front, her hands in the sacks and
the Golfers of gold. 1t is then that the
tears course down the cheeks, and in the
midst OF n glnarny and awful silence that
oppressed people, bursting into so5e, med
itates from the heart vengeance.
But let England from the heights of her
palaces and on her couch of purple and
silk, shiver and listen to the noise of the
giant roaringSbenesth the mountain piled
upon him. He courses through the dark
subterrsneous passages be straightens up,
he raises on his back the fiery furnaces Of
democracy, and England apprehending
the approaching eruption, in terror feels
her feet burning, and in her fright starties
back in dread, lest the volcano about to
burst should overwhelm her.
O'Conneil firmly believes in the future
emancipation of Ireland. He believes in
God, and it is because he believes and
becRuse he hopes, that like an eagle, with
wings though whitened by the snows of
many winters, he still maintains his SUD-
lime flights of orAtory in the highest re-
gions of eloquence. He does not separate
the triumph of religion, from the triumph
of liberty. He thrills with joy, he is Allied
with glory, he is exalted in his magnificent
visions of the future, and his inspired
words have something OF the grandeur of
the skies above him and the air and the
space around, when after his election from
Clare he addresses the thronging multitude;
"In the presence Of my God and with the
most profound sentiment of the responsibility
of the solemn and dreaded duties you have
twice imposed upon me, Irishmen, accept
them aud l obtain the ASSURANCE to fill
them, not frou my own strength, but from
your own. The men of Glare know that the
only basis of liberty is religion. They have
triumphed because the voice that is raised for
country had first breStbed her prayer to the
Lord-Now songs of liberty are heard in our
green felds their sounds are taken mp by the
hills, fH the valleys, murmur in the waves of
our rivers, and our torrents, in thunder tones
shouts to the echoes of our mountains, Ireland is
free 7"
Bnt unfortunately Ireland is not yet
free. What will become other What will
become of her agitator VIII be be
thunder struck in the midst of the storm
Are England and Ireland shaken to their
very foundations, to battle with one an
other7 are torrents of blood to flow
May God avert these forebodings
What does it matter, Daniel, if Ireland
comes from your hands surrounded with
glory and pslpitsting with nationality, or
that you should perish by the power of
bayonets Success alas! has too often
until now constituted the only title
of tyrants to right and legitimacy.
The world is delivered up to them,
and apparently God wills that they
should reign,-appareutly all nations must
be born, live and die in a long stormy
period of darkness, relieved at rare inter
walls by beams of unlight,-apparentIy
their oppression is one of the secrets of
that Providence that sports at human
justice, and that tries here below the
patieuce and the virtue of the op-
pressed, in order to reserve for them the
eternal rewards of heavenly inheritance.
Do not then fstter yourself, Daniel o'COR-