Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-04-09
CONTINUED ERoM LAST WEEK.

with blood and punctuated with tears;
but bright with glory ineffable, appears
on every page the Irish character, and
as the years go by the time will come
when Englishmen will blush for shame
to think they are the children of such
despOtic sIres.
What wonder if the Irish treasure
no love for England: What wonder
/ if thev seek to remove forever from
/ the baleful influence of Westminster
Hall, whose every memory is relic of
/ the charnel house: But God be
/ thanked, the age of persecution has
gone by. The American revolution
ushered in period Of mighty change
! in the political policy of the world. \
! principle had been proclaimed anew
/ that had been long ignored. And
strange as it may seem, the change
was in no small degree the out-grOwth
of English tyranny over Ireland; for
/ the Irish settlers in Maryland remem-
! bcring with sorrow the persecution
they had undergone at home, pro
! claimed religious liberty, and that too
at time when the PuritanS of New
/ England, though loudly claiming for
! themselves the right to worship God
according to the dictates of their own
consciences, were whipping Quakers
and banishing Dissenters for doing
the same thing. And when the sep
aration from the mother country came,
the principle first propounded here was
accepted by all the colonies as the
| foundation stone of the American gov
eminent.
With the opening of the present
century the Irish people began to
emerge from the ObScurity i'll which
they were for SO long time, and it
/ was found that through all the hours
Of gloom the love of learning had been
| kept alive, and wonderful indeed was
the improvement which few years of
comparative freedom made in the con
dition of the people. The race again
became interested in problems of their
own condition. y period of political
and literary activity unparalleled in the
history of any other land was uShered
in. 4 mighty leader had arisen, who
fearless as a lion led his people by the
only path they could have tr0d, up
heights that but for him they could
not reach for many a weary day. y
mode of political education of the
masses was adopted as etfectual as it
was novel No such peaceful meetings
had ever been held before; and no
such have since been held, and it will
be long indeed before the equal of
! O'Connell comes again. OCOnnell was
a man adapted in every way to the
times in which he lived. \ man of
great frame and intellect, a master of
the excentricities of human nature,
and especially of Irish character. He
drew around him forces that III the
hands of any other man might have
! been reused to anarchy He held them
spell bound, and guided them like
| children; and the magnitude of the
work he accomplished is only now be
ginning to make itself apparent. 1t
/ required man of far more than ordi-
nary mold to sway the Irish people to
! the pitch of enthusiasm necessary for
| his purposes and yet restrain them
from acts Of open violence that in their
/ tltltilNtltN1 N'il'tlll'll NotINt navy p'Nii
suicide. He saw with the eye of a
prophet that in peaceful agitation alone
| lay the hope of the Irish people, and
| drove the wedge. O'Connell has been
sleeping in Glasnevin for more than
| thirty years. and his successor, Charles
| Stewart ParnCll is now continuing the
work Through all these years the
work has been progressing slowly but
ever surely. O'Connell died with Il
broken heart. Men had arisen, hot
bloodcd and impatient, well-meaning
! but unwise, who Sneered at his cOun-
sells, and needed not his warnings.
| They CndeavOrcd to Seduce the people
| from allegiance to the great leader \
! famine had come upon the land whose
| evil influence without any other dis
! turbing element, would have required
! his utmost efforts to counterfeit. We
see the result. The counsels of folly
prevailed and O'Connell turned away
| to die. We see with what difficulty
/ parnell restraints the angry feelings of
| the people now, and allayS their i'm
patient murmurings. Yet what vast
| improvement there is in their condition
since O'COnnen's day. Education has
made vast strides. and consequently
| the power of self-reStraint has adj
vanced with it. But the Ireland of
| OConncll'S day had no Phoenix Park
| aSSaSSinationS, no murders in the city
streets in the open day. Parnell fol-
lowing in the footsteps of his illustrious
predecessor has already achieved mar
wells, and seems destined to achieve
still greater ones. God grant he may;
but should he fail we must not be dis
couraged. Ten years, yes fifty years
are but brief period in the life of Il
nation. And when we consider that
Ireland has already a history extend
ing into the past 5000 years, we need
not be impatient.
The Ireland of to-day is but miser-
able remnant Of her former self. Her
children have gone-and gone with
vengeance. and the remnant of that
noble race that linger Yet amid the
ruins of their former greatness is small
indeed, compared with that great army
who beneath the flag of freedom are
marching to progress.
There Is legend that centuries ago,
almost a thousand years before Column
bus sailed from Spain. an Irish monk,
It. Brendin, sailed away into the
western sea, and discovered a new
country which was called Ireland it
Mikla." or Ireland the Greater. and
that after making two VOYAGES he re-
turned no more. The legend may be
true or false but time has made it
almost reality. The Ireland in the
western sea is truly Ireland the greater,
and on every hill top and beside every
running stream from Maine to Cal
| ifornia the Irish settlers cottage stands.
He fills an honored place in every av-
oCation, and though historians of the
English type depict the Irishman as
indolent. mprovident and disconnected.
we know that when removed beyond
the pale of English tyranny. he has
everywhere displayed the very opposite
qualities. Here he is never idle; his
industry and energy have done their
/ part in clearing our forests. bridging
our stream, digging our canals, and
/ tunnelng our mountains. You will
/ find him in our evergreen pineries.
rolling the logs and driving the RATS.