The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1879-02-02
"TRE AMERICAN IRISH"
From the Dublin Freem.n's Journa,

pamphlet under the ABOVE title (puc-
! lished by MCGEE, of Nassau street), which
we may hail as an opportuue contribution
to onf national literature We have been
| much more accustomed to hearken to
"SperaDza" when her inspiration moved
her lips in measured music rather than in
the accents of colder prose, yet We cannot
| help being reminded, as we read her pages,
| that We are listipg TO an eloqaence which
| often thrilled the sOnls of our countrymen
| at dark and critical portion of our his
| tory, and feeling that the warmth of fancy
| and beauty, the force of expression which
| SO often kindled them into glow of rash
though generous enthusiasm, still flourish,
rich and inexhaustible, as though no seri-
Gus call had ever been made upon them
The subject which claims her attention
now is one to which, perhaps, sufficient at
tention has not been paid of late by those
to whom it should give moet canse for
thought. In America great new Ieeland
has grown up since the day when the i'm
passioned eloquence of 'Sperarza' first
reused the attention of an oppressed coun-
try and we have abundant and striking
proof that the old country Is rot forgotten
in the dreams of those sea divided Ceite.
That they will be likely to exert power
ful influence upon the future destines of
Ireland is proposition which may we'll
challenge negation; and the Statesman who
omits to take this potentially into account,
when pondering the case of Ireland would
be greater simpleton than we are inclined
to think exists in the English Cabinet.
Lady Wilde has done good service in
drawing attention to these considerations at
time when Irish Politics are once more the
subject of anxiety; and though we cannot
agree with many of her deductions, we
think the grounds from which she draws
them worthy of serious attention. In por-
trsying the different results of the Influence
of American aud English institutions upon
the character of Irishmen living In either
country, her sketch will be at ooce recog-
pized as fslicitous and jQst one:
"It is singular that the Irish may live for
years in England, yet tdey never acquire the
English manner-calm, grave, and sef-posses-
sed nor tho English habits of order and rou-
tine; nor even the Euglish acoent-while in
America they rapidly become American Zsd,
bold in speech, audacious in enterprise. self
in sentiment. No Iriahman returns from
America loyal to monarchy. On the contrary,
he 1snghs to scoru the old bonds of seryile
feudalsn, with all 1T, superstitiops of class
worship; and bis opinions soon gain many fol-
lowers. The American hsg holds the place of
honor at all popular demonstrations in Ireland,
and is always greeted with enthusiastic
cheers, while the dag of England is nowhere
seen."
From these circumstances and others,
Lady Wilde gathers the inference that Rs
publican sentiment is making large head
way in Irelaud-a proposition to which we
are forced to refase our adhesion. 0de
swallow does not make a summer, and the
return of few Irish h-Americans to Ireland
has exerted, we believe, but little influence
upon the general body of the people, who,
in their aspirations after National freedom
have been accustomed to q totally different
ideal. Passing from this topic, however,
we caunOt but think that the picture she
draws OF the emiGrant Irishman Of thirty
years ago and the Irish. American citizen of
to day is suggestive of what might be the
different circumstances here at home had
another line of policy beeu adopted towards
Ireland by her rulers:
"Year by year Ireland sends forth thousands
of her people in the emigrant ships like outcast
weeds, 10 bs fang on the shores of America,
helpless crowd of crushed, dispirited, unletter
| ed peasants /; slaves and eerfs who have never
| even known their rights freemsu, duiled by
| want, oppression, and despair speaking, per-
| haps, no language save the ancient tongue of
the primitive Celt, through which no new
light of thought has flashed for thousand
years.
| The American Irish are the opposite Of all this
They receive q soldier's training, with full pri-
vileges of freemen and citizens. They are edu-
Gated and organized important by their am
bers and by that ready talent and indomitable
ppirtt which is rapidly gaining for them the
highest positions as stAtemen, generals, ora
tors, writer's, and journalists in the States
What might the position of England be
| had che had the courage and the generosity
to trust Ireland justly and fearlessy She
would have a nation of born soldiers at her
back, with whose help she might defy the
world in arms. As il is, we know what she
has-a nation whose synpatbies che has no
right to look for, a population whose atti-
tude in times OF crisis makes this portion
OF the Uuited Kingdom the fatal spot in it's
panoplS. She would have no reason to
dread that "return of the Heraclida" which
Lady Wilde pictures as the great absorbing
dream of the IrIsh in America, aud of their
efforts to make q reality of which we have
had in oar own day some remarkable in
stances:
"They have also one aim, which is to create
new era in the history of Ireland. This Is
the fauStioism of their lives-but they bide
their time; the individual dice, the nation
| lives aud waits. The English sneer down the
| idea yet nothing will eradicate the splendid
dream from the Celtic imagination that some
day the Irish race will be powerEul enough
| to reorcss the Atlantic with ships aud arms
and money, overthrow English rule, and an.
mex Ireland to the greAE Federal Republic
under the Stars and Stripes. And it must be
confessed that the project is not wholly inn