Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1880-02-20
LRELANns TR0nRLES

from the mind every humane and gentle
virtue" His is poor memory, and his OBJ
seivation has been slight indeed, who by re-
fiection fails to confirm the truth Of the
above. AH
The visit of Parnell to this country has
awakened thought in regard to the condition
of the people whose cause he represents.
Public attention is being called to the mons
trous greed that is the sole cause of this
terrible amount of suffering and destitution.
The fact stands out in bold relief that the
poor of Ireland are the victims of heartless
extortion.
Beautiful and fair, yet from her, her
sons are flying, for in the golden autumn
time, when comes the reaper plying, her
sons are but the cleaners, rs the yellow har-
vest yields 20 the sickle that he Yields"
That is the trouble in Ireland. Her sons
are but the cleaners. They own not the
soil which they cultivate. Daily and weekly
must the poor tenant stint himself and his
wife and children to hoard the rent for the
bailiff and the absentee. Hence it is that
when the crops fail, when mother earth, un-
der the influence of unpropitious seasons
refuses to yield with her accustomed bounty,
famine comes on apace. The tenant has
nothing saved, the memorable landlord is
unpaid; then commences the process fevic-
ton, determination follows eviction, for
eviction means to the wretched tenant and
his family death, with all the pangs Of fam
inc and disease,
Estated gentlemen, a great majority Of
whom disdain to make their home in the
country, have managed TO possess themselves
of over one-lourth Of the whole area of the
Island. Their estates do not include noun
tain, bog and rocks, but only the most ara
BILE lands. The tenants upon their lands
are reduced to a condition of serldom. A
slight failure in the crops, the large and
draining rental being squandered abroad,
leaves them utterly destitute.
This country has never seen, and God for
bid that it ever should, when famine, gaunt,
CHASTITY famine, seize whole people in its
strangling grasp and press them down
down until there is no refuge left but exile
or the grave. The world is full of Irish
exiIes, but to those who are denied the bitter
alternative Of exile, goaded by hunger, mad
dened by the suffering Of those dearer TO
them than life itself, should be tempted to
rush upon the path Of violence and sedition.
Ireland, it has been said, has nothing to
lose by the uprising of her people "All
that she could lose in any way was lost long
ago" No agitation, no movement, no cause
that calls the people together can now have
any issue that will not in some way carry
her forward. She can take no step except
toward the front. The time to go back is
past. For centuries, from their earliest in
fancy, they have learned by sad experience
that, that law, which should have been their
shield and protector, has been made the in
strument of their wrong suffering, cruelty
and oppression, as it has been their curse
II we trace the tenure of their masters and
landlords little way back we will discover
that their title is stained with violence, ra-
pine and blood-shed that the land holder
is indebted for most Of his rights to the rec
ord of Cromwell and the cannon of William
of Orange.
Land Of song and of sorrow, when age
had fixed its monogram upon the crumbling
and blackened walls of thy earliest archi-
lecture, the corner stone of the most ancient
in the lands here laid. To learning, to lit
erature, to music and to poetry hast thou
furnished unfading contributions The
matches eloquence Of thy orators and
statesmen have charmed the civilized world
The principles Of liberty which have strug-
gled for so many years in the hearts of thy
people, which enlarged the soul of Emmett
and Daniel OConnell has been sanctihed in
the martyrdom of thy sons wherever the
voice Of oppression has been heard Wher-
ever disease has raised its hideous front and
sent forth its kissing and hostile breath,
Irish men and Irish women, clothed in the
garb of the priest and the sister, have stood,
devoted, and self-sacriicing midst the pesti-
lence, healing the sick, comforting the dying,
and wreathing new chaplets around the
brow of Ireland"
Let 1t be remembered that there is to-day
bill pending before an American Congress
asking for an appropriation TO erect mon
ument to the memory of the patriotic Key,
who wrote the Star Spangled Banner
Let it also be remembered that down in
groves of the" Sunny South an Irish voice,
tender as blue birds note" in the first
soft gush Of spring, sweet as the music of
young girl in the quiet hour of twilight,
warped into imperishable verse of beauty,
"the true story of Confederate devotion, and
embalmed the Confederate flag in the i'm
mortal lines of The Conquered Banner.