The Irish standard., 1888-11-17
ron, ar ,e|ninr a Catholic

. iI6y tOtk lioUl VIC Csttl4VtlCS--L uA
their little holdings-the money to sup
port the Protestant churches. Aboutthi
time the Irish people sent to Pope Joh1
XXI. the following letter: Most holy
father,' they said, 1--WE send you sons
truthful information concerning ths
state of our nation and the wrongs
which we are suffering, and which ou1
ancestors have suffered from the kings
of England. their agents and the barons
born in Ireland. After having driven
us from our dwellings,, FROM our fields
and our ancestral possessions, after
having forced us to Tee TO the NOUN
tains, the bogs, the woods and caves to
save our lives. they cease not TO harass
US even here. but strive to expel us al
tcgether from the country, that they
may gain possession Of il in it's entire
extent. They have destroyed all the
written laws by which we were formerly
governed. The better to compass our
ruin they have left us without laws II
is the opinion of oil their laymen, and
many OF their ecclesiastlcs, that there is
no more sin in killing an Irishman than
in killing dog. They all maintain
that they have the right to take from Us
our lands and our goods.'' Was there
ever anything more pathetic than such
a letter to our holy father, the Pope2
Now they determined to destroy the
Irish people. aud not only the native
barons and old Inhabitants, as they wera
called. who had been there for genera
tions, buJ the latter settlers and their
children, of whom it was said that they
! had become more Catholic than the
Irish themselves. The English were 20
intent upon gaining the whole country
Fer themselves that they shot them down
as if theY were beasts. They pro-
claimed loudly that it was meet for
every soldier to shoot down every irish
man as if he were dog. The Ir,shma31
did not dare to complain about the de-
struction ofhis children. IT his wife were
taken from HIM he did not dare com
plain. And it had not even The excnse
Of a blind zeal. Who could wonder If
they became serviie peop]ep The law
die not recognize the existence Of q
Catholic.
Bancroft, who when he was a young
man, was inclined to give good words to
the Irishuan, but in his later years did
them injustice. Although preseat his
torian pointed out che errors he had
made in his book, yet he allowed them
to REMAIN there. In his History OF the
United States lie says: THE Irish are al
oppressed people, WHOM tins victors de-
lighted to trample upon and did MOI
fear to provoke. Their industry was
prohibited or repressed by lew, and
they were calumniated as naturally
idle. Their savings could hot be in
vested on equal ternns in trada or real
property, aud they were called improvi-
dent. The gates Of learning were
turned upon them anG they we're de-
rided as ignorant. In the midst f pri
Yations they were cheerful. Suffering
for generations under acts which offered
bribes to treachery, thelr integrity was
not debauched. No SON rose against
his father, no friend betrayed his friend.
Fidelity to their religion-to which af-
tiictions made them cling more closely
chastity and respect fer the ties OF
family remained characteristics Of the
down trOddeIi Iace.@
Should any Catholic be found with
firearms, he was subject to fine, i'm
prisonment whipping and the pillory.
The child who changed bis religion be
came at once heir at law; In any case
there was no recognition by law of a
marriage between a Catholic and
Protestant.
There were two classes in Ireland
only; master and slave. The proprie-
tor Of this land iive0 in other countries,
on the continent, in England. There
he spent the money he received from the
tenant. Between them came the
agents, or middleneu, and tins poor ten
ant had to support the families OF the
three. And SO it went on until there
came visions of peace and liberty from
q cross the Atlantic; for in 1776 it was
proclaimed i'll this country that maa
was free-born, and the word came
across the Atlantic ocean cheering the
hearts Of the pcor Irishma,, and they
reJoicsd in this the beginning of these
Ualted States.
Here was history which every Irish
man, in our day, could read in the ruins
spread out around him, and yet before
our eyes the descendants Of these same
prosecuted people were building as
vigorously as ever churches and schools,
not oniy in their own land but in far oti
Australia and in this free America.
10 the seer, it was:
IA land become monument:
Man works, but Gods concealed intent
Converts his worst to best;
TIE first Of atars was tomb
Irelan1! Thj graveston, shall becon,o
Go(7's altar in the West
Wora thov aoprnor,1 in tho ctrifo2