The Irish standard., 1888-01-28


'Cropples lie down. and the Orange
banner with the motto of No Popery'
be displayed upon every church steeple
and Orange PROFESSIONS muster il the
Nstreets on that historic day to remind
the Celts that they were beaten at
Aughrim? With the cooperation with
some fanatical Scotchman, an Oran e
procession was announced for the mid
summer Of 1874 -four or FIVE years after
the Irish immigration had commenced)
to which all good men who hated Pope
and PoperY, brass money and wooden
shoes were expected to give their as.
sistance A few Eng!ishmen, who
knew dimly the results which these di.
versions had produced in Ireland, dis
couraged tHe proposal, but they were
regarded as lukew2rln Protestanss.
The skele6on OF public authority i'll the
| little settlement was quite poweCless to
restrain the mischief. The superin-
tendans was busy collecting the land
fund and the customs duties fer the
treasury at Sidney, ana the little cor
poration, with it's posse comitatus of g
dozen constables, was divided on the
question; the town clerk, the strongest
man in the connection, being opealy
associated With the processionists. For
a moment there seemed to be no
remedy. While the settlement was
still in it's infancy the Catholic colon
| lists were to be marked out for period
ical humiliation, and perhaps exaspera-
! ted into becoming bad citizens. 1t hai
been done successfully in Ireland, and
why not here? Tradition attributes TO
an Irish tailor, whose name, l. tear,
posterity has forgotten, the happy
stroke which laid these malign designs
| fiat il, tlle mud. Three days before the
obnoxious anniversary an advertise
u1ent appeared in the journal least un~
friendly to the Irish which created a
! ferrnent: Notice. A hurting match
is 70 take place at Batman's Hill on
/ Friday, the 18th day Of July at 10
O'Clock, between the men Of the
county OF Glare and the men of
the county Of Tipperary for q bet Of $50
All who think we'll Of those counties
are invited to see justice done to their
respective ynerifs, and nnfllnching Irish
boys in general are requested to wit
ness the scene The male population
of the colony OF that time, from the
Yarra Yarra to Portland Bay, was un-
der 10 900, but 500 stalwart IrishmeD,
well dressed, we'll fed, we'll developed
TIjbernians.' says a cbronicler of the
story, armed with I1ur!eys, slaves and
shillelaehs, and captained by 81 man
who afterwards attained the highest
| rank in the colony, answered the call.
+; They spent the day in pleasant games
aid exercises at the appointed meeting
without offence or injury to any one;
but there they were III case 0? need and
the insulting procession shiyered out OF
existence A contem porary bard des-
cribes the scene in ballad which, if it
halts little in metre, is at any rate the
testimony of an eye witness, who pro
longs to later times the natural triumph
Of the hour. The bard, it will be noted
was we'll disposed to be a loyal citizen
il he might be permitted:
! TEE ErRL1NG MAVoH.
The liveliest gathering under the sky
| Was round Batraan's green hill on the lath oi
| Jnly;
From the depths Of Port Philip for many q mile
Flocked the gay loyal sons OF the Emerald Isle;
| As strapping fine fellows as ever were seen.
Who would shed their hearts blood for their
cause and their Queen.
And first in The field was the gallant old Tips,
With strength in their arms and SMILES on their
| lips;
Like the fast-heaving surge of their own royal
stream.
The sons of the Shannon in ecstacy came;
While famed Garryowen poured it's tribute
along,
| throng.
And the bigotad Shoneens who hail from the
Bosne,
With their grand Orange banner were not up to
! time,
For deuce ia Ike the ha'porth was there to be seen
But Sprigs OF Shillelagh and Shamrocks so
| green!'
! Next day when the hurlers had re-
tired TO their homes, there was an
Orange riot, and a pistol sho1 was fired
ata priest. man popular with all Sec
tions Of the population. But it was
the last sputter. There have been and
are still Orange lodges in Port Phillip
where those to whom it's an agreeable
pastime to drink perdition to their
neighbors, in the charter toast, but
there never has been an Orange pro-
cession IN the public streets of Mel
bourne from that day forth. Colonists
have pleasant conviction that their
spirits rise like quicksilver IN a ther-
mometer when they return from Eu-
rope to Australia, and Irishmen insist
that they and the sunshine have both
contributed to make life less gloomy at
the antipedes. They were never ac-