The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-04-04
BLOOD STAINED ENGLAND
Grimes Committed 1, ireland Evan
Morse Than In Arr
men;a.
ATROCITIES OF BRITISH RULE
The Testimony Of an Impartial Protes'
tant Historian on the
Subj cot.

In last Saturdays Nation we had occa-
sion to refer to the notorious Jack Gift
| ford commonly called "the dog in Office,
and grandfather of Lord Salisbury, the
present lord high chancellor England.
| The distinguished historian, Lecky, a
member of the present British parlia-
ment in the Conservative interest, throws
what he calls a '.ghastly light on hid
eous passage on British atrocities in Ire
land during the rising of 1893, and where
in Clifford figures, says the San Francis
co Nation "A Welsh Regiment" writes
Mr.. Lecky, "of fencible cavalry called the
Ancient Britons' stationed at NeWry, re-
! duced county which was probably the
most seditious and disorganized in u
ster to complete submission, but it did
so by means which left an ineffaceable
| impression and horror and resentment on
| the public mind. In the absence Of any
searching judicial investigation it is i'm
possible to say how much of exaggeration
! there was in the popular reports, but the
very absence of such investigation is in
itself condemnation of the government
and it is but right to say that there is a
confidential letter written by an eye wit
ness in the government archives, which
sustains the worst charges against it. 1t
was written by a certain John Clifford,
who was an officer in the Irish militia,
engaged in the task of searching for
arms. He mentions that he had been
present at numerous and invaribly I'M
successful expeditions for the purpose OF
discovering and .arresting insurgents
with arms in their hands, but that now
another practice was adopted. The
Britons burned great number OF houses
and the object of emulation between
! them and the Orange yeomen seems to
be who shall do the most mischief to
| wretches who certainly may have sedi-
tious minds, but who at present are quiet
| and incapable of resistance He de-
| scribes an expedition to the mountains
| in search for arms. His party returned
| to the main body of the Ancient Britons,
| to which, he says, L was directed by the
smoke and flames of burning house
and by the dead bodies of boys and old
men slain by the Britons, though no OPP
| position whatever had been given by
them. and as shall answer the Almighty
| God, believe a. single gun was not fired
| but by the Britons or yeomanry. | DC
clare there was nothing to fire at-old
| men. women and children excepted. From
ten to twenty were killed outright, many
| wounded and eight houses burned. Six
teen persons were taken, poor wretched
| peasants, whom they marched into New
~, and were asked why they had made
any at all, meaning that we should have
killed them. The next day they were
proved perfectly innocent. But the worst
of the story still remains. Two Of, the
Briton's desiring to enter a gentleman's
| house, the yard gate was opened to them
by lad whom, for his civility, they shot
| and cut to pieces. These men had stray
! g1ed away from their officers A scuffle
had taken place between two of the An
Gent Britons and two members OF Gift
ford's regiment in which one of the lat
ter was killed and another desperately
wounded. A coroner's inquest had
brought in verdict of murder against
the Welsh soldiers. and Clifford much
feared that it would be impossible to re-
strain his soldiers from reprisals." :.
| Mr.. Lecky, it will be remembered, is a
non-Catholic historian of worldwide
fame, and is now a member of Lord Sails
bury's party in the house OF commons.
| Talk of Turkish terrorism among the Ar
means! How your modern Britons who,
in the disagreement of Ireland, emu
late the martial vigor of the ancient ones
| of that ilk, affect to shrink with horror
and dismay on hearing of the atrocities
of the followers of Islam in Armenia.
| It was only the other day that Zekki Pa
sha, Turkish cabinet minister, as we
gather from long and exhaustive essay
by J. G. Swift MacNeill, M. P, intimated
in reply to the English critics of the sui
tan, that the ''severe measures" used up
on the Irish were fully as atrocious as
what thew condemned in Armenia. Says
Mr.. .MacNeill: .
Mr.. Lecky has directed attention to The
curious inconsistencies which make for
eigners regard England as the Pharisee
of the nations, enunciating high princl-
pies for others which she never thinks of
applying to herself The denunciations
bv the entire English press of the afro
cities which are at the present moment
converting Armenia into hell upon
earth seem to me to supply a very strik-
ing illustration to the curious inconsist-
encies' which Mr.. Lecky has noticed. The
pi]lage and rapine, burning OF houses.
destruction of food for. the purpose OF
producing artificial famine, the deliber-
ate murder, not only of unarmed and in
offending men. but of women and chill
dren and violations of female chastity by
a ferocious and cowardly soldiery, the
| slow processes of torture inflicted on hui
man frames, the systematic religious per-
secution: above all, the Overwhelming
evidence that these horrors have been
deliberately instigated by government
which is disgrace to humanity, are ia
miliar to any student acquainted in mer-
est outline with the doings Of the English
government in Ireland. AS / read the
atrocities in Armenia, I was again and
again reminded of the counterparts Of
these atrocities which were of common
occurrence in this country less than 100
years ago. The parallel which presented
itself to my mind between Ireland and
Armenia has been anticipated by Mr..
Lecky. the present favorite Of the So
called Unionist party, whose political
predecessors are responsible for atrocities