The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-12-12
IN THOSE Old PENAL. |: ||. DAYS..
Religion in England, / 4 and I Ireland
!. Discussed s BY ysDr. z.
. croffert !, 1T
Insulting Attitude of the Orange
men Of the North Towards #
Catholics. ..s .... A. A !.
The Cruel Injustice of the Penal
U. Y. .:.5. Laws y Commented Upon 4.
.s$ . Severely. l I J

| land before the Secular League in Wash
Isington last week, in the course OF which
he said that religious differences were
I the chief cause of the suffering of the
Irish people from the prosecutions of the
English, says the Irish World. ~ He
described the celebration Of Orangemen's S
day, as he saw on the 18th Of last July,
IN passing through Londonderry and the
North of Ireland The professions of
| the Protestants celebrating the battle of
the Boyne, fought 206 years ago, were,
inSthe hostile spirit they manifested, like
regiments going to battle. They were
harangued by ministers Of Protestant de-
nominations, WHO did all they could to
fan the prevailing animosities, and told
| their hearers that their religious lib
critics could ba maintained only by a:vigS
liant and fervent celebration ,of the day
onxwhich William won from King James
that far, off battle. :ss$s .5s .s:.;
More than: 81, 900 men marched through
the streets with trumpets and drums,
with flags and clubs, their faces fierce
with the frenzy of war, and it was un-
safe for Catholics ito be found in the
streets. This state. Of things prevailed
throughout Northern ireland, where the
Orangemen are dominant, and the cele-
bration Of st. Patrick's Day was virtual
ly prohibited.
The speaker declared the destruction
Of Irish liberty and the persecution Of
the Irish people by England to be the
greatest crime Of mod I times. ''The
Wbnde Is not that there ia unrest in Ire-
land said he, but that an n shrnan
who is strong enough to handle a guh
and able: to obtain one, should be will
ling to live at peace anywhere in the
world while his mother land is thus sun
der the heel Of the most insolent Of op
pressors. %s
'srhe conquest Of Ireland by England
was begun under Henr y H., in the
twelfth century; and was continued with
an almost unbroken series Of atrocities
for 800 years. It was the great mind of
the plus King Henry VIII. who first con-
ceiyed the idea that the Catholics in Ire
land would either be ext1rpated or con-
verted if they were robbed Of their land
and. reduced to serfs. He began the
holy crusade, sent. an army across the
channel, drove the earls into the noun
tains, and confscated and presented to
his .courtiers and favorites no less than
2, 900, ,ooo3 acres, about one-sixth Iof the
entire arabic land at: the island. Il u u
elizabeth followed his example, and
confiscated other counties, and the work
Of spoilation was prosecuted by Crom-
we'll and William until, more land had
been confscated than the island contain
ed, and some Of the benehciaries loudly
declared that they had been de efraudeds OF
their rights The landowners Of Ire
land have now become almost entirely
Protestant, and there were 4 900 Of them
In all. IT, IT,. y ..s
Still the conscience Of Il Protestant
England was greatly disturbed by, the
tact that the Catholics, although plum
dered continued to live, and it.was then
that the penal laws were enacted and en-
forced series Of infamous measures
calculated to make every American
ashamed OF his ancestors and Of the re-
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