The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1889-12-07
fretrib ution will follow ii the Footsteps
Sof those who have been instrumental ia
bringing sorrow and mourning to many
a once happy home.
THE EMERALD ISLE OF TIE OCEAN.

THE EMERALD ISLE OF The OCEAN.
When will Ireland be nation? is the
great question that at the present time
agitates the Irish patriot wherever he
may be and absorbs the attention Of
civilized nations. Ireland still has an
existence as nation. She has her
universities and her literature. She is
still the Emerald Isle Of the Ocean.
An air of romance and ch'valry is
around her. The Evolutionary tales
that live IN her literature invest her
history with heroic beauty. But she
has no need of these. Real heroes, the
O'Connells. O'Neils, O'Briens and the
Emmetts will be remembered as long as
self-denvlng patriotism and unconquer-
able valor are honored among men. In
every department Of literature she will
take her place. Where is the wealth
her shamrock does not adorn? Where
is the music that does not visit her
hills? Her harp has ever kindled the
soul of the warrior and soOthed the
sorrows of the broken-hearted. 1t has
sounded every strain that can move the
human heart to greatness or to love-
Whatever vices may stain her people.
they are free from the crime of v0lun-
tary servitude. The freshman is the
last to be subdued. Possessing an elias
ITCHY of character that will rise under
the heaviest oppression, he wants only
favorable opportunity and single
spark to set him IN blaze. The records
of religious persecution in all countries
have nothing more hidecus to offer to
our notice than the Protestant persecu-
tions of the Irish Catholics. On them
all the devices of cruelty were exhaust
ed. Ingenuity was taxed to devise new
plans OF persecution till the machinery
of penal iniquity might almost be pro-
nounced perfect The great Irish chief
talns aud landlords were pLrposely
goaded into rebellion, that they might
be branded as traitors and their lands
confscated for the benefit Of English
SPECTATORS. That injured country was
the great repast at which every mon
arch IN days gone by babe his lords sit
down and eat. After they had gorged
their fill the remains were left for those
who came after, Records of these
great wrongs are written on every foot
of Irish soil and are still in the living
memories of many an Irish heart. The
landlords of Ireland to day are princi
pally the descendants of the lords aud
barons and dukes and earls to whom
the English government gratultously
bestowed Irish POSSESSIONS. They re-
tain the same instincts of brutality and
robbery, and still continue in the same
work, abetted by the government Of
s'civilized" England. The bayonets of
English soldiers still rap at the door of
the poor Irish tenant, and behind the
bulwarks of ENGLISH law confis cate the
little home that has sheltered him since
boyhood and around which the fondest
memories cling. But this state of at
fairs can not last forever. The laws of
christian and civilized world proclaim
it. England will yet be forced to rec
ognize the decree of public opinion,
and make restitution for the wrongs
she has perpetrated upon a noble and
patriotic people whose bravery she may
have broken but has never bent.