Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1896-04-23

which nerved the hearts and CAV,
strength and force to the arm oi
that great hero will never permit
that sacrilege. What a glorious re,
cord the Catholics made for them.
selves during the war Of the Revo
ton Who can forget the kind and
noble words uttered by George
Washington when speaking of the
valor and faithfulness Of the Cath.
olics in that great struggle And
does history not tell us that some
OF his closest friends and advisers
were the Catholic members of his
staff |?
Whist asmericansansverfor forgst ths
name Of Capt. John O'Brien, who
achieved the first naval victory
against Great Britain off the coast
of Maine? What American does
not reverence the name of Commo-
dore Jack Barry, the father Of the
American Navy? Did not Catho-
lie France, when the army of Wash
ington lay starving and in rags dur
ing that cold, bleak winter at Val
ley Forge, send food and money
and munitions of war? And did
not the aid received from France at
that time mark the turning point
in the war? Consider carefully
the names of the great heroes of
that struggle, and you find the
names of Barry and Kosciusko and
Pulaski and Lafayette going down
to posterity with those of Washing
ton and Adams and Hancock and
Warren. In those days you could
not find men banded together in Sc
cret, stealthily creeping around
from one end Of the country to the
other stabbing their fellow-citizens
in the back and intriguing against
their religion. Broader and nobler
sentiments guided the minds of the
American people in those days.
A great many of my fellow-mem-
bers here can testify from personal
experience to the bravery and deyo-
tion of the Catholic soldiers in the
war of the rebellion.
Were not your eyes gladdened on
-snany O bloody field by the sight OF
the green flag waving side by side
with Old Glory as those Irish Cath
olic boys charged against the enc.
my, and did you ever see that green
flag waver or fall back !?
1t is the undisputed testimony of
every officer in that war that no
braver or more heroic men ever
fought for the Union than those
who wore the green badge and plume.
Let the men who fought under
Sheridan and Rosecrans and Mea-
CHER testify to the love and devo-
tion with which they followed the
Stars and Stripes.
Did anyone stop to consider when
Sheridan was riding toward Win
chester town whether he was Cath
olic or not?
Will the brave men of 1S61-1S65
ever forget the devotion and love
with which the white. robed Sisters
of Charity ministered to the wants
Of those famished and dying sold
iers, and did they not move about
from bed to bed in Southern hos
pitfalls and prisons like white-winged
angels of peace, comforting the sick
and ministering to the dying?
Mr.. Speaker, | have briefly out
lined the story of the devotion of
the Catholic people to this great ma :
tion of ours. Their work and his
tory speak for themselves and need
no defense at my hands.
By their blood have they shown
their loyalty to American institu-
tions, and the past four centuries
have been the witness of their no.
BILE lives, their heroic labors, and
their glorious sacrifices.
They have toiled in the forest
and on the sea, in the mountain
and on the prairie, amid the pleas
ant scenes Of the village and in the
dark surroundings of the cities, and
in every walk of life have they been
faithful and true.
They have aided in the construc-
tion of our railways; they have cul-
tivated the soil; they have dug from
the mountains their vast treasures
of gold and silver, of iron and coal,
and they have linked their desti
MES and their children's destinies