The San Francisco call., 1896-06-15
A Spirited Encomium Delivered
on Irish Integrity and
Patriotism.
AN APPRECIATIvE AUDIENCE
The Speaker Quotes Many Stirring and
Touching Passages From
Irish History.

a multitude GnrongeQ ola SCs mary
Church, on California street, last evening
to hear Rev. Father Yorke's lecture on,
'Are the Irish People CriminaIs?"
Long before the hour announced for the
lecture the vast edifice was filed, not a
single seat rem aiming empty in the gallery
or even on the stairs leading to the choir
gallery. Upon the east side of the broad
platform sat prominent members of the
local clergy, and on the west side, opposite
them, the laity was we'll represented by
many well-known citizens.
The audience that listened to Father
Yorke last evening was appreciative and
sympathetic to marked degree. Before
the speaker had proceeded more than a
few sentences the audience burst into ap-
plause, for which Father Yorke gently re-
buked them. Again an old man in the
gallery interrupted the speaker with an
earnest God bless you, father" " which the
whole audience seemed also to feel
''The question on which l shall speak
this evening"" began the speaker, ''is one
that has often been put during the lastfeW
years and answered by a certain class in
strong affirmative, especially by some who
have not even yet taken out their first CIT
izenship papers. 1t has been widely af-
hrmed from pulpit and platform that every
Irish Catholic is endowed at birth with
double dose of original sin. Laughter.
Let US consider the source from which
these charges come. They are made
chiefly by men whose aim is to purify poll
tics for the interests OF their purses, VINO
come here to raise discoTd and strife that
their own interests may be subserved.
This charge that the Irish are criminals
did not originate in this country. For six
centuries it has been reiterated. Six hun
dred years ago it was proclaimed that the
Irish were so bad that the good people of
England should govern them. For 800
years they have blackened the name of a
people whom, though they could wrong,
they could not subdue.
The first charge brought against the
Irish people was that they were unruly
under the benefcent rule of Mother Eng
land. The same charee was made against
the people of this country when they de-
clared that to command a decent respect
in the opinions of mankind they must
remain no longer under English rule If
il be criminal TO refuse to submit in spite
of 600 years of oppression, to keep the
fire of patriotism burning despite never
ceasing oppression, then every American
must plead guilty to the same charge.
Then, indeed, We are criminals but such
criminals that we should be placed beside
the heroes of Thermopyl@, of Switzer-
land, of Bunker Hill and Lexington.
"1here is another crime beside that of
patriotism with which the Irish are
charged. the crime of agrarianism. Letus
consult history in considering tnis charge.
After the battle of Limerick trade sprang
up between England and Ireland, princi-
pally in the export of meat. This inter-
fered, however, with the pocket of the Eng
lish farmer, and the English farmer, taking
Irish profit for English good stopped the
trade. Compelled TO keep his stock and
sheep where he had formerly ex xported, the
Irishman turned to manufacturing cloth
from the wool of his animals. Mauufac-
tuTe of wooden fabrics began. and a ready
market for Irish goods was found in Eng
land. In the reign of William this trade
was stopped by legislative enactment
1.-THE wool had be sent to England
manufactured into cloth and sent back
again for the profit of the English weaver
Yet we are told that the Irish are law
And it is England who has robbed them
who now points her finger and taunts
them with their poverty. II Ireland is
not great manufacturing country In GER
tain lines for which it is naturally fitted, it
is because of the sordid greed of those
who $50 years ago strove to put an end to
Irish manufacturing for their own
interests.
The charge is brought against the IRISH
that they live on potatoes, that thew give
their wives and children what you would
not give to horse. But, why have they
lived on potatoes2 Less than a century
ago Irish papists were not allowed to own
more than a few acres OF ground Then
they were gTaciously allowed bv Parlia-
ment to cultivate bogs and rocky hilIsides.
Generations worked in these barren spots
and after years of toll, bringing sand and
seaweed to make soil, they were able to
raise few potatoes.
"Then, instead of the Government en-
couraging the toilers with Well DONE
came the landlord to put on the piece of
bog site or hillside a rent, which was
spent not for the benefit OF the poor, not
to improve the condition of land, but in
debauchery in the brothels of England, of
London and of Paris. And then, because
these men had a spark of manhood left
in them, thev rose to protect their wives
and daughters from the outrages that
were offered them and to protect their
homes from spoliation. Let no Irishman
be ashamed of what are called the
Agrarian outrages-of having fought for
the honor of his family, for his hearth
stone and his fire.
But the Irish a recharged with being
criminal people. You hear that there are
more murders, robberies and crime against
person than in Eng land or Scotland Yet,
according to the Encyclopedia Brittanica,
in 1878. while there were 6487 such crimes
in Scotland and 6797 in England, in Ire
land there were but 3842. Taking an an
nual average, the number OF condemned
criminals in England is 14S; in Ireland, "a.
And when we remember that in England
murder is defined as the taking OF life,
while In Ireland condemnation follows anv
assault that might result in murder; even
If they do not cause death, the 81 cases
above mentioned would be lessened.
I'm the matter of crimes against the
family we find that Ireland presents the
fewest of any country. The fact that Ire
land preserves most closely the family re-
lation is seen from the fact that the rate of
nlegitimacy is lower in Ireland than in
any other country in the world. And.
much as | dislike to do it, a comparison
must be made between the different parts
OF Ireland itself. In the county of Ulster.
where religion consists in reading the
Bible and cursing the Pope, land not of
milk and honey, but OF hymns and godli-
ness, the rate of LEGITIMACY is 81 to everv
1000 while the rate in Connaught is to
1000
And even this small percentage of lille
gitimacy in Irish Catholic communities is
due mainly to the workhouses. After the
land of Ireland had been SIX times confis-
Gated by the English Parliament, after the
potatoes failed and famine seized the Irish