The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1893-07-29
COLLEGE GREEN.
The Old Parliament House Which
ie Now Used as the Bank
of Ireland.
GRATTAN'S NOBLE ELOQUENCE
With Bribery, Corruption and In
timidation the Anglo-lrish
Union Was Effected.

Union Was Effected.
What was once tho Irish Par]iemen
House, and which, please God, soon will
be- so again, stands where some centuries
back there was great green field, occu-
pying the whole space from the city wall
and the Castle down to the river--the
city wall at this frontage extending be-
tween st. Mary's Gate on what is now
called Cork Hill. and the Pols Gate,
which stood at the junction of St. Wer-
burgh's and Ship streets. The river,
which wae not banked with quays until
the middle of the last century, previously
rolled up at high tide to what are now
Essex and Brunswick streets. In Speeds
noap of the city of Dublin, published in
1910, the name of that street behind the
Castle is not ''Ship," but Sheepe street;
and the Irish Annals, under date 1889,
relate that ''the street OF the Sheep IN
Dublin was burned by the Lord Chief
Palesmen. The same annals mention just
previously that al extraordinary event
occurred along the coast between the
Aiffey and the Boyne, for all the sheep
suddenly went mad, and despite their
shepherds, ran into the sea and disap-
peared. So, perhaps, it was from that
curious circu instance that the street was
named.
This great open space between The
city and river was the scene OF many his
toric events. When il came to be built
on, ths western part was named Dame
street, from the church of Our Lady, in
Norman-French Notre Dame, which
stood close by; iu tho Fhzabethan period
the western part was called College
Green after the erection Of Trinity Col
Lego at one side OF the thor.ughfare.
While the law courts are sitting, or
there are the other periodical events
which bring people from the provinces
to the metropolis, on business or pleas.
ure oent, nowhere will you see groups of
timer young men or more graceful and
handsome ladies than are then promen-
aiding this and other principal Dublin
streets, or who may be listening to the
music of the band in Mountioy or Mer-
rion Squarss, or are, perhaps drawn by
the spectacle Of military pageant to the
Phoenix Park. Not in the Bois de Bou-
logne or the boulevardes, not in the Lon
don season" on the ride in Hyde Park,
or the Kensington Drive, or in Regent
street and Piccadilly you will behold
fairer women or finer men! But there
the comparison at present ceases, fol
Dublin is only the shadow of a capital
the pale reflex Of what it was in dignity,
prosperity and gaiety when an Irish Par
lament made laws for Ireland within
the splendid ediice on College Green
near which in fancy we are rambling.
That grand building is now only used
as bank, but let us step back into it
vixen it was still hall of legislation, land
hear Grattan battling against the re.
moval of the Irish Parliament. Yes, it
was battling in every sense of the word
for according TO the custom of the time
''satisfaction" often followed in the morn
ing the stormy scenes Of the evening be-
fore, and more than one of the govern.
ment supporters found that the little
man who 80 sorely troubled their schemes
could smite as skillfully with his hand as
with his, tongue.
'Well. the Minister had destroyed this
Constitution; to destroy is easy. The
edidces OF the mind, like the fabrics Of
marble, require an age to build, but ask
only minutes to precipitate, and, as the
tall of both is an effort of no time, sc
neither is it a business of any strength
pickaxe and a common laborer will dc
the onsa little lawyer, little pimp, a
wicked Minister the otherr'
Grattan had spontaneous, noble elo.
quence, which kindled and elevated the
soul Of the listeners. Let us hear him
when in 1850 he carried in the Irish Par.
lament the memorable resolution that
t'the Kings most Excellent Majesty and
the Lords and Commons OF Ireland are
the only power competent to make laws
to bind Ireland:
II will not be answered by public lie
in the shape Of an amendment; neither,
speaking for the subjects freedom, am
to hear Of, faction. wish for nothing
but to breathe in this our land, in com.
mon with my fellow subjects, the air oi
liberty. I have no ambition but to Dreah
your chain and contemplate your glory
. Inever will be satisfied 50 long as tie