The Irish standard., 1894-03-31
THE PART TAKEN
BY Irishmen and the Sons Of Irish
men in American History
Brought to Mind.
IN NO MANNER APOLOGISTS,
Nc Dictation or Prescriptions for
Loyalty From Latter Day
'spatriots" Needed

''katr1Ots" Needed.
On the evening of the 18th inst. an au-
<aience which filed the Tabor Grand,
Denver, Col, 10 overfowiDg, greeted Rev.
Father Malone when he appeared to de-
liver his lecture on "Irish Catholics in
American History" Among other things
he said:
II for moment we allow our thoughts
to dwell on the countless ages that have
gone before us, and upon the millions
and millions Of men who trod this planet,
and who, as far as mortal ken may reach,
have passed silently away into the moth
ingness whence they came; and if we re-
hect upon the works Of their hands, which
were the pride and glory of their day,
but which, too, have passed away, and
have become but as the memory of
dream, it would, indeed, seem TO us that
the life of man is but as in6nitesmal
speck upon the infinite vast OF sime and
that any promise OF perpetuity which his
works might give, is but the mockery of
q relentless fate.
The fate of Ireland has been particu-
larly sad. O'Connell said that it was the
mission of the Irish people to te nailed
to the cross and to suffer for the faith of
Christ. And history seems to verify the
prophecy OF the great comnooner. "A ma
tion of men to whom liberty is dear be-
,yOnd compare, she has for many centur-
les writhed in the dust beneath the op-
pfeesor's heel, A land endowed by ma
ture with wealth Of beauty, and with
unsurpassed natural advantages, she has
witherea beneath the English blight un-
til her children have been driven in
Aocks irom her shores. Year by year
she has seen the flower of her youth borne
away to other lands, there to develop re-
sources and build up institutions Of free.
dom. Within half century she has
seen ons half her population emigrate
from the land Of their birth. They have
been received by every new land that has
held out promise to energy and worth.
In their new homes of prosperity, her
children have not forgotten the stricken
isle; and at this season, whether they be
in the new world of of America, in the
colonies of Africa or in the far-off Aus.
tralia, Irishmen and the sons of Irish
men are one in spirit,are bound together
by a tie Of sympathy that extends over
oceans and continents, and by the bonds
of love, We ars made an united people in
the memory of the land where we knew
fathers and mothers love.
The vast immigration of past centuries
has made the Irish race prominent in the
development of the newer countries of
the world; and in none, more so than in
our own beloved land. 1t has seemed to
me, therefore, that the present is TT
ting time to glance back over the record
of the Irish Catholic in American his
tory.
/ do not come before you as an apollo
Qiet for my race or credible heroic val
or of the one needs no apology, and the
teachings of the other are Of character
80 exalted that to apologize for them
would stamp one as unworthy the glori
ous heritage of the ancient faith. AS
Irishnen and as Catholics, we are not
apologists, either for blood that courses
in our veins, or for the faith transmitted
to us by the saints.
And il tonight we make q oursory re-
view OF the part taken in American his
tory by Irishmen and the sons Of Irish.
men, whose faith in the benefcent des-
tiny Of America was only secondary to
their faith in God and His Church, we
may be indulged the pleasure because OF
the facts on which it is founded, without
the suspicion Of apologizing to those
whose claim to the proud tltle OF Ameri-
can is justified more By the tongue than
by the sword.
Religious and civil liberty was secured
equally to all men by the blood OF our
fsthers,and as Catholics we ask and shall
have fair share in that liberty. regard
less OF all asseverations to the contrary.
We do not ask, nor do We expect. any ex-
elusive privilege in4his government, ex-
cept it be the exclusive privilege to de-
tand.it from the dangers into which it
nay be- plunged BY the unconstitutional
enactments of lister day patriots patri-]
ots who would fain make us believe that
HE american flag was their swaddling
elothes and their sires the "a American
Ve have clear and undoubted
" iilclhts suunler IL eonsti ion iin con1non
~ Yyr 4 g. 4 to q hlclh
II I I1llj lilIisl .,