The Irish standard., 1888-11-17

Poland, the n,ightiest and the hrst
l Surrendered at the triple blow;
But Ireland ten times dared the wolst,
And England never laid her low.
Here were the enemy in this wear O.
grace 1883, fresh and vigorous as ever a
| the old business: imprisonillg priest!
and honorable men; manufacturing
criminals, discriminating aud anneliorat
ing the Irish people off the face Of chs
earth; acting the hypocrite as usual
calling the Irish people ignorant and
sloyenly, thieves, murderers and liars,
for, as in the days of honest John
! Mitchell. SO now Morality, Lord bless
you, ranges very high and religion also; y
! through all our nineteenth century
| British literature there runs tons OF
Yeneration to Almighty God as one OF
the Great Powers; and our venerable
church and beautiful liturgy" eIc., are
| relied upon as sort OF diplomatic con-
cordat, whereby we bind ourselves to
let Him alone if he lets as alone; but
as Mitchell said, THE devil OF it is that
he will not let them alone.' The Irish
must be ciyilized; true, we have tried
to improve these barbarians fcE seven
hundred years. and vet they have not
kissed the rod; but who knows, perhaps
Balfour is the ma1, aud row is the hour.
Rack-rentjng and absentee landlords,
agents with hearts hard as the neither
milestone, hired desperadoes, emergen-
c3men, a corrupt and fostering crowd
around the castle Of Dublin aided by An
army of soldiers and constabu|ary, the
whole iniquitous agency to enslave a
struggling people were there, in the
year 1888. fresh as ever. But how were
the citizens taking all tnis Il! Citizens,
quoth K? There are no citiz9ns in Ire
land. They are all felons. And as tlie
brave John Mitchell said when they
branded hiul q felon, ''As for the dis
grace OF felony that sits very easily on
me; nc taint Of felony can rest OF me
except by my own act; and what igno-
rniny London law can stain an Irish =
man withal am content Co bear until
my dying hour There was an example
t, be reverenced, and 80 when gentle
men OF honor. and Of ta}en dared to
speak against Injustice, to proclaim y
nations WRONGS the strong hand Of
English Jaw smote them OH the llps
tiled to debase them and break down
health and spirits, and then by means
CT a servile press TO uphold them TO the
world as criminals.
'Or art thou one whose strong and fesres pen
Reused the young Isle and bade it dry its tears,
And gathered round the ardent, gifted men,
Tue hope Of Ireland in the coming years?
Wbc dares in prose and heart awakening rhyme,
Bright hopes to breathe aud bitter truths to tell
Oh dangerous criminal, repent thy crime,
Cease 70 do evil learn to do we'll"
Meanwhile the people were taught to
look on all this English law as without
the slightest moral sanction. Loud in
their shouts OF JOY whenever they laid
eyes on any dangerous criminal forming
PROFESSIONS, with much lighting Of bon
fires, of tar-barrels and general rejoic
ings when an special English indignity
was cast upon their Dayitts, OF billions
or Parnells. imprisonment was q spe-
cial passport to the confidence and love
of the Irish people, a sort Of graduation
to Saint Stephens.
The Irish National League was
formed in October, 1879, to save the
remnant Of the people fast disappear
ing, to put an end to the injustice of
disgraceful land-laws, to rouse people
accustomed TO look upon roof1ess
houses, blackened hearths and ruined
factories to a sense Of their degreda-
tion, and form a national Parliament
of tho Lords and Commons of Ireland
with full control oyer domestic affairs,
to extend parliamentary and N lniclpal
franchises, to develop and encourage
the labor and industrial interests of
Ireland; how has it Jared ? Why, Of
course, it was high crime and misde-
meanor, and SO 1t must be- suppressed.
New crimes before unheard Of were
then manufactured, as holding meet
ings Of suppressed branches which
failed to be suppressed, having the
hardihood to publish what suppressed
branches said and did at their meetings;
all these offences were visited with con-
dign punishment.
Take particularly one grave offender
the editor of United Ireland; he had
three separate sentences Of six months
at hard labor tor publishing the three
first of 40 branch reports; Whereup0n
being somewhat Of a mathematician he
calculated that as there are two hun
dred branches now suppressed, if we
report all their news, We will have to
undergo a punishment of fifty years inn
prisonment at hard labor for one weeks
publication. When eighteen hundred
branches are suppressed we Will have
to undergo nine hundred years impris-
onment per week. and if the publics-
ton go on, for three weeks we must
serve Oh the plank bed a period equal
~, oil tIoc oont,,riac ci,co tho