The Irish standard., 1894-03-24

They have taken q prominent part in
every phase of American history, and
Irish names appear on the rolls Of every
American war. It has been said that
America and England was an Anglo
Saxon race, aud If this be true, said the
speaker, he was sorry. He did not have
any great amount Of respect tor the
Anglo-Saxone, and gave their origin
The race was originally rowing band OF
untutofed people who lived along the
shores Of the Baltic. In the eleventh
century: the Anglo snxons migrated to
the shores of Britain and soon established
form of dynasty. They subsequently
joined forces with the Danes, who par
italy conquered their predecessors. In
1866 a force of sc, 900 Frenchmen went to
England and in single battle deprived
the Saxons of their supremacy. They
were reduced to an abject slavery, where
they have been since. The speaker said
that fora century or more the Auglo-
Saxon has slaDdered and prosecuted the
Irish, and he thought that he was justi-
fed in hitting back and giving some
thing OF the origin of the race. The
speaker gave the names Of scores of Irish
heroes who won the first battles for
American liberty. John Sullivan won
the first battle or land and Patrick Eu-
gene O'Brien was hero a. the seas.
Another Irish hero had raised the stare
and stripes over the Red Gross of King
George on the ocean. Today, said the
speaker, there are sixteen millions OF
Irish in the United States, or one.fourth
OF the entire population. @
Three millions OF Irish had come to
America or had been born of Irish par
ents since lS46. The speaker represented
that hundreds of thousands of citizens OF
America who were registered by the sta
tisticians as being EnySiSSsh, Or Canadian,
were Irish, even though they might have
been born ON English or Canadian soil.
OF the Irish American heroes the speaker
mentioned Henry Knox, the four Clin-
tons and others. The first commodore
of the American navy was of Irish birth,
Commodore Stewart, of the famous battle
ship Constitution, was the great-grand-
father of Charles Stewart Parnell
the illustrious Irish leader. There we're
as many Protestant Irish heroes. said the
speaker, as there were Catholic Irish
heroes. No one challenged the loyalty
Of either.
At this juncture the speaker became
warmed up TO the question of bigotry,
and delivered to the A. P. A. series OF
red hot roasts right off the Goals. He
said there was no need of Catholic
Americans being afraid Of Protestant
Americans. The constitution of the
United States, the most perfect instru-
ment ever written, guaranteed total and
religious freedom to all. 1t protected
the Jew and GENTLE, the Protestant and
Catholic. Before that band of bigote
(meaning the A. p. Al can trespass upon
the rights Of any American citizen, it
must first smother and overthrow the
constitution Of the country. Jefferson
Davis failed to do, it, and the A. P. A.
could never do it. The speaker said that
the seeds Of discord did not originate in
America, but that they we're sown in
England and in America by that same
Anglo-Saxon race that had persecuted
the Catholics for centuries
The speaker then came back to civil
history, and told of the part that the
Irish had taken in the war of the rebel.
lion. New York had sent 800 regiments
to the war, and an impartial Protestant
war statistician had declared that the
Goth regiment, composed exclusively Of
Irish Catholics, had suffered the greatest
loss by death and by wounds.
mo bigot found fault with the green
Aag then,'' exclaimed the speaker. ut
waived side by side with the stars and
stripes. It was followed into battle and
to the death. Phil Sheridan, tho hero Of
Atlanta, was . Catholic, and no one said
sthst he would betray his country. = tell
you, Irish American citizens, that Amer
ics is your country. You ara Americans
of all Americans. The American flag i
your flag, and the American constitution
is your shield. There e not flag @
loved in old ireland g the stars and
stripes Il waves whom the Union Jack
OF England d torn down. 3
The speaker related the sympathy q
Ireland with the North e the time of The
civil civil 1ar, and seaidi that hile England
..,I s;onst 7 4