The Irish standard., 1896-12-19
TAKING IRELAND ENGLISH.

AUlG RESPONSE. " II y ~
TAKING IRELAND ENGLISH.
A writer III the current North Amer-
can Review on "The Repeopling of Ire
land" discovers that the country is be-
coming Anglicized, says the Boston
Pilot. The foreign born inhabitants of
the island, he says, have increased from
%, SOL in 1S41, to 1900 in 1891, and ''the
English-speaking people of Ireland,
friendly to the English, have scored
heavily on the side of intelligence" To
prove the latter statement he instances
among others, Burke, Moore, Sheridan,
Boucicault, Balfe, Wallace, Fitzgerald,
Russell, Maclures McClintock, etc, as
men whose names are distinctly nom
Celtic. It is true that the Burkes and
Fitzgeralds are Norman French in their
origin, but they have been Irish for
about seven hundred years; and if Lord
Russell, of Killowen, Catholic and a
Home Ruler, the man who defended Par
nell, and sent Pigott to his Judas-like
fate, is not an freshman, we wonder how
he can be classified. "The Duke Of Wei
lington, conquerer of Napoleon" is in
Guided by the essayist among the Anglo
Irish, and rightly enough, if sentiment
makes nationality; yet Wellington's peo-
pie lived in Ireland much longer than
Washington's had lived in America; and
few persons would be found to say that
Washington was English. The Irish do
not boast Of Wellington. Their sympa-
thies were and are all with the great sol
der to whom Wellington plays the part
of "conqueror," as Sir Hudson Lowe
plays the part of torturer. But for the
splendor Of the victim, those satellites
of fate would shine very feebly in his
tory.
In conclusion the essayist says:
zone of the mistakes made by Irish
men who are in the fight against Eng
land is in supposing that the drain on
the Celtic population would be stopped
if legislative independence were granted.
With greater number of Celtic Irish
men out Of Ireland than in Ireland, the
tendency must ever be to. draw the flow
er of each generation to other lands.
1t would be heart breaking termination
of the struggle of the agitators If the
Home Rule flag should float at last over
thoroughly Anglictzed Ireland"
How little he understands the Irish
spirit or comprehends the lessons of
Irish history! There was a time when
England prosecuted Ireland, nominally
because Of religious differences but real
ly for the sake OF the English pocket
which is and ever has been the shrine
OF England's conscience. The Normans
who went to Ireland became more Irish
than the Irish themselves in genera
ton or two. Catholic England did not
spare the Hibernicized Catholic Anglo
Irish, any more than Protestant Eng
land spared the Protestant Irish descend
ants Of King James's plantation in III
ster when they reyolted against oppres-
sion SO years ago. The beautiful Brit
ish conscience has found it convenient
to justify the spoilation Of Naboth's
vineyard without much regard to ex-
ternals during all the centuries Of spoil
iation. Henry II. had as tender a con-
science on that question as his successor
and namesake, Henry VIII. Both were
thieves and both asqueraded in the liv
cry OF religion to do the devils work. s
If all Ireland we're English and Pro-.
testant tomorrow, does this innocent es-.
,, sayist believe that Home Rule would be
granted If the granting involved any det-
riment to the English purse? Il so, he
is indeed very innocent. Paul Kruger
Lis as Protestant as any Eonconf ormist in,
all Great Britain; but that fact did! not
save him from British greed. The Amer
lean colonists were mainly Protestant,
and, to large extent, English in blood;
but George the Third and his ministers
saw IN them only mischievous d rebels
whose treason was supported "a by the
wicked Irish among then. 2
Re-people ireland, rs the North mer-
|iean essay list sugg ests, and 4 viii stinl /
bs Ireland, the land off tendrs love.
and naaks q
NJ ia Il