The Irish standard., 1890-03-01

II ter Of peace. was discharging his trues
ministerial functions in standing ther,
N that night as truly as If he was in on,
"A of the halls somewhere in their cit,
u taking part in a missionary service
llapplanse). AS a minister Of peace hi
4 was there just as truly in the interest.
II of peace. to bear his little part in closing
1.-THE open wounds of this distracted
II country; and they all knew who had
Rsaid. ''Bessed are the peacemakers'
I(applause). He had sometimes heard il
charaed against that and kindred asso
Citations that their very existence kept
up divisions. Well. granted; but in the
Imeantime it was absolutely necessary
that that and kindred associations
4 shonld exist, and to do what? To stop
I the mouths of the traducers who said
\ there was no Protestant Home Rulers
H (cheers); 70 stop the mouths of those
fwh0-fOr evil purposes, or let 1t be
lfrom ignorance-said what was not
|true, that Home Rule meant Rome rule
l(bear. hear). He said that that asso-
lciatiOn needed to keep its separate ex.
Iistence, but only for a little time. and
latter q time there would be the meeting
lOf the waters, and the parted streams
EOf Irish national life would flow to-
Egether and form one grand united river
Elapplause).
PATRIOTISM.
EAfter treating the Irish question in a
| mastery manner, the Rev. Mr.. Kerr
lsaid-when they got their own native
parliament they would catch the spirit
of patriotism and love Of country {hear,
#hear}. Patriotism. after love of God
and love of family, was the grandest
Isen iment that moved the heart of man
I(applause). No land had a history
worth writing that was not inspired by
NOBLE patriotism. He affirmed, and
affirmed without fear of contradiction,
THAT, since the Union. Irish ProJes-
tants, with few noble exceptions, had
been destitute of patriotism (hear,
Ehear). They had no patriotism because
Ithey had no country. They sol1 their
ss,sauntry. !. They sold their country (hear,
hear). The Union was the death knell
until to day at least, of Irish Protes-
tant patriotism. How did they pass
the Union?
'By perjury and fraud;
| BY slaves who sold,
For place or gold, -
Their country and their God.'
(Hear, hear). Since then they had been
a wretched province, trampled on, and
that was all they had left to day. Be-
fore the Union who were the sturdiest
patriots in Irelands Irish Protesyants
(applause| And he had no need to
tell that audience that for more than
100 years the trusted leaders OF The Irish
people, with one or two exceptions,
notably O'Connell, had all been Protes-
tant ;hear, hear). Before the Union
the bulk OF the Ulster Presby yterians
we're rampant patriots. Not onlv that,
but their earliest national poets were
all Wstermen. Nothing fed the flame
Ot naSional life more than their national
poetry (hear, hear). The fire of patriot
ism had almost died out IN Protestant
Ulster, 50 much 50 tnat to day the
Ulster Protestant did not claim to be
an Irlshman at all. This want of pa
triotism in Ulster Protestants had b.
come source Of trouble, not only in
Ulster, but in other lands. John Dillon
(applause) and his associates were on
a mission in Australia and New Zeal :.
and. Who opposed them in that mis-
sionf For the most part men who left
Ulster, and he was sorry to find that
there were two PRESBYTERIAN ministers
who took part in New ,aland in kind
Of r1oting opposition to their mission.
It was sometimes thrown in his face
that the Northern people must be a
selfish race. for they were doing none
Of the fighting, but were grabbing all
the spoils. 1t was asked was this fair
and was it manly, and what could he
answer except that it was not fair and
it was not manly, but they did these
things because they were not patriots.
But Undue them with a spirit of patriot
ism. bring them to realize love for Ire
laud, and then they would make them
grand, noble and unselfish men (hear,
hear). Let them never forget that
John Martin was All Ulster man (hear,
hear), aud with all his impetuosltv John
Mitchell was an Ulster man iapplause).
Although theY had not come to the
front yet there were plenty of good
sturdy Nationalists all over Ulster,
Down, Antrim. Derry. and Tyrone (aD-
plause). The county gatherings on be-
half Of the Tenants Defence Associa-
tion had helped in a wonderful way to
bring to the surface the latent patriot
ism that was smoulderlng all over
Ulster. In conclusion, he would ask
them to. be fair to their opponents,
to be conciliatory to them. to try and
win them over, to be patient in this
cause, to wait and to trust in God zap.
plause
E VIA