The Northwestern standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1885-1886, 1885-12-19
A FRIEND OF IRELAND.
Brave Words From an Bnglshman Joseph
Oowen, N. r, al New Oastle-on-
Tyne.
Protestant Minority Under an Irish Par.
Lament Whisperngs Of Politicians
Repudiated.

The following is the synopsis OF
speech lately delivered to his consult
uents by Joseph Cowen, NJ T for New
Castle, England when the herd de-
generates the herdsman is to blame,
is a maxim, said NH. Cowen, as old as
Socrates. Ireland has degenerated I'M
der English rule, and England is to
blame; and those who cite Scotland as
an instance of what England has done
for a country in q similar situation TO
Ireland, forget, or do not know that as
regards Scotland, it is q Union, Wnlie
as regards Ireland it was q Conquest.
Before ENGLAND planted her foot IN
that country Mr.. CoWen told his hear
ers, ireland, after the SIX centuries
which followed the Introduction OF
Christianity, was the seat of the indus
trial arts and the School Of the West.
Residence was considered essential
TO establish a literary reputation, and
thew were Irish missionaries who first
presented to the iIliterate Saxon the
rudiments Of literature, science, arcilI-
lecture, music; and even the means OF
shaping the letters used III Writing
the English language. Old St. Paul s.
he added, sin London, and the magnl-
ficent group that stands at Westnln-
ster Hall. were Of Irish design, AT
that time Ireland was the Christian
| Greece-the centre Of scholastic en-
| lightment and enterprise. MI. CoWeR
then traced in his own picturesque
| language the result Of the various Brit
| ish enterprises in the country from the
Anglo Normans down to the present
day. and he told his English listeners
| that when they detained against Irish
ignorance they should remember the
penal laws that left over four millions
of people unable to read /; when
! thew reproached the Irish With
want Of manufactures, they should re-
call the Williamite Statutes; and when
thew rail against Irish ingratitude,
thew should not forget that every Eng
lish concession mas been shOrn OF grace
and merit By long delay, and by being
Welded to pressure rather than conylc-
! ton and sympathy. Without claiming
any confidence iii his own powers OF ad-
vocacy Mr.. Cowen asked for any twelve
Of his countrymen, of any class, OF
creed, or party, in jury box, and 1t al
i lowed. like Dean Swift, to plead tiie
case under another name, he felt salts
i fed they would pronounce the lrlsi
i grievances proven, and decldeathat thf
/ irish scheme for seJf-gauernme1lt-w Wa
81. nrinciple sound, and would, in prac
/ tice. he workable. Ireland had nearly
/ twenty years Of that scheme, and Lore
Glare, in 1898, said, There is not a ma
ton on the globe that has advanced II
cultivation and commerce, IN agrlcul
J, ture and manufactures, with the same
rapidity in the same period. IhE
was the recreant Irishman who helpet
Castlereigh in destroying the constitu
zion and parliamentary independence
of Ireland, and who boasted he woult
make the Irish las tame as cats
When he died of broken heart a few
wears after the passage Of the Unlo,
act the Irish populace threw heaps 0
dead cats upon his coffin.l We regre
that space does does not permit on
quoting at length what Mr.. CoWen ha'
to say on the religious question. W.
can only observe that he repudlatet
the wnisperings OF nervous politician
who predicted danger for the Protestan
minority under an Irish parliament
Belgium, he added, is a Catholic coun
trv. and the religious liberty OF Pre
teatants is as secure there as 1t IS L
England. There are keener clerica
controversies in Switzerland than |
: Ireland, yet the freedom OF all IS recog
{ nized and respected. And it is fac
, to be cited to the honor of Irish Cath
) olics that on two occasions during ia
) reigns Of Queen Mary and James the
, had the opportunity of retaliating upo
, the prosecuting practices OF preVlou
) epoehs, and refrained from doing i
: They inflicted no penalties for religion
i opinions. They ordered the tithes pal
: by Protestant farmers to be paid I
: protestants, and they did not depriy
the Protestanss of arms, or the frar
: chise, or impose upon them the penf
r laws which had been relentlessiy leyie
: against them, theirreligion, their prof.
a u. their family peace, their polite;
1 and civil rights as subjects. All tn
and much more Mr.. Cosen dwelt upo
i with forcible aud convincing eloquenc'
e proving up to the hilt the reality Of Il
e Irish complaints, and the irresisflb
f instiee of the Irish demand.