The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1890-03-29

ders arid banishments which were
adopted to secure their so-called con-
version would fill thousand volumes.
After CromweIl's death, Charles, the
son of Charles the First, came back as
Charles the Second, and was succeeded
BY. his brother, James the Second.
James had somehow learned Of the
truthSof the old Christianity. had some
how learned that the various forms Of
Protestant dissent were not the truth
and ne had become Catholic. This
was rank treacherv to parliament, so
th..Y brought over William Prince Of
Orange, who had married his eldest
daughter, Mary, and James was de-
throned. They made William and
Mary, king and Queen of England.
William, in order to sustain his posi-
tion as King of England, found it me-.
cessary to initiate the cruelties of his
Norman predecessors IN Ireland, in
consequence of which we find him lead
ing his armies against the defenceless
people. Defenceless, say, for when
they were, best fitted since the conquest
to fight for,their liberty they have been
but half armed, half clad and poorly
ted. Williams conquest Of ireland
terminated in the treachery which sue
ceeded the. capitulation Of Limerick,
which was defended by the heroic
Patrick Sars6eid. After stipulating
that the defendants should have the
honors Of war to which they were en-
titled as; brave defenders of their coun-
try's rights, the sacred promise was
broken and the soldiers and inhabitants
were murdered, imprisoned and treated
with all the rigor which the Normans
of England have ever shown the van
duished. This much for William.
After him. came Anne, another daugh
ter of James the Second, Upon her
demise, fearing that the son of James,
who was a Catholic, would return to
the throne Of England. the Parliament
established what they called the Pro.
testant succession and made George of
Hanover, descendant Of one OF the
daughters OF James the First, successor
to the throne. He became George the
First; then came his son, George the
Sacohd and George the Third, grandson.
of the ast,sunder whose reign our cOun-
try successfully rebelled. Then his
sons. George the Fourth and William
the Fourth In succession and his niece,
Victoria. the present queen of England.
During all these years, however, the
English people have had little to say as
to what policy should be followed by
the, Irish. AS T have said they were
principally Saxons and Celts and after
thev were conquered they were COM
PEELED bY their rulers to defraud the
Lrisn people of their birthright, to
coerce them into the denial Of the re-
ligion taught them by st. Patrick.
This may seem strange but such has
| been the result of the Norman conquest.
1t was impossible chat the Irish nation
living upon small island, approach
able upon all sides, without the natural
ramparts of rugged mountains and inn
passable glens existing in Wales and
Scotland, could successfully repel the
various invasions of England led on by
these determined Norman cOnquerors,
backed by the resources of all England
| In these later days beginning with the
10th century. Grattan. Emmett, O'Con-
nell, the men OF 48 and host of gal.
liant patriots have made appeals for
| Justice in vain. Finally the last grand
appeal has been made by the Land
| League aud the National League, led
by those great Irishmen Of modern
times. O'Brien. Dillon, Davitt and Par
nell. One IF the greatest Of these in
my Judgment is Davitt, who some
eleven years ago organized the Land
League. While Parnell and his band
have forced parliament to survey the
ruin which successive Norman English
parliaments and freebooters have
wrought in our native country, Michael
Davitt has educated the people Of Eng
land; Scotland and Wales who have
been treated but little better than the
Irish. To the labors Of such patriots
as these we have seen added the voice
and example Of one of the greatest OF
ali statesmen, man who has had the
courage to rebel against the time-honOr