The San Francisco call., 1896-03-18

OF their country's struggle for legislative indie
PenGence as not 10 know that a distinguished
ITlsnman stood on the floor of the English
House OF Commons and contended tor conciIi-
allon and JUS tice to the colonies. There are
rev VINO do not know that the eloquence and
aIHliuiy OF Edmund Burke were on that side on
Wnich, as he once well said, "Eloquence and
aolilty ought ever to be on the side OF liberty
and justice
The 5000, 900 of the Irish race that inhabit
ireland are not the bulk of its representation
think it hardly any exaggeration TO say that
more than twice that number of people of
1rish m,h blood may be found in the United States.
Inc sentiment of that number of people must
largely mold the sentiment of the people
among whom they live. It's influence was
Ioreseen 100 years ago by the master mind of
That pure patriot and impasS1oned orator
henry Grattan. In speaking in the Irish House
OF commons in favor OF the legislative inde-
pendence of Ireland he said, among other
things:
"Do you see nothing in that America but the
grave and prison OF your armies? And do you
not see IN her range of territory, her cheap
ness ness OF living, her variety OF climate and sim
puc1ty OF lie, the drain OF Europe? Whatever
is bold and disconsolate to that point will pre-
elpitate, and wnat you trample on in Europe
viii sting you in America"
Inc anniversary that summons US here, it Is
true is that of an honored saint on the cal
enoar OF the Catholic church. In this, it seems
10 me, there is q sort of poetic justice. The
English Government, in spite of the teachings
OF universal history, has sought by all the in
genulty OF her statesmen to destroy religion
by persecution, as if it dreamed that the re-
hgfon which, under the prosecutions of Rome
nonrlshed IN the recesses of the catacombs,
could not, under the prosecutions of Britain,
nourlsh N the businesses of the Irish noun
talns In the hearts OF race which knows no
superior in fidelity to faith and principle.
:, OF the fidelity OF the Irish people to their
!ig1on under unparalleled persecution Eng
Ii nsh history bears ample testimony. The Eng
llsh Protestant historian, Lecky, says:
They clung TO their old faith with con.
stancy tnat has never been surpassed during
generations OF the most CALLING persecution
az time when every earthly motive urged
them 70 abandon it, when all the attraction
anu InIuence OF property and rank and pro-
Iesslonal eminence and education were
ported their priesthood with an unwearying
zeal when they were thus sunk in the most
aolect poverty, when the agonies OF starvation
were continually before them"
1t is not TO be wondered at that the Irish
people, prescribed mainly on account of their
renglon, should prize the mystic bond that
held them together in the embrace of an en-
curing nationality. 1t is not to be wondered
al that the festival OF the man of God who
planted in their hearts that religion which
has, as 1t were, impaired its own perpetuity to
them as race should be selected as the day to
sing their songs of sadness and TO prefer their
orlsons TO the God of justice and of nations for
oppression.
To the American whose religion and nation
alty are so distinct as they required TO be
under the divine injunction to "Render unto
Caesar such things as are Casar's and unto
God the things that are Gods" it seems
strange that an Irishman's loyalty to his race
and his faith should be blended in a manner
so unique. This must be attributed TO the OPP
pressor and not to his victim. 1t is not because
the Irish Catholic does not understand and
fully appreciate the relative allegiance that he
owes to his government and his God. 1t is not
that he wishes or would consent to the ascend
ency OF any church within the state or the
imposition OF its ceremonials or its support up
on thu masses of the people. He would be the
first, and rightly SO, to resent and resist such
wrong. Toolong has he suffered from such
system, too strenuously has he opposed it to
Whenever he has been permitted to voice his
sentiments on the subject he has been in favor
OF religious liberty. When in 1889 the short
lived Catholic Parliament under James at
tempted TO legislate for Ireland one of its first
acts was TO pass law establishing perfect re-
hgious liberty in Ireland and, to use the Ian
guage of Lecky, "ItS enactment at such mo-
ment OF excitement and passion reflects no
small credit on the Catholic Parliament
When in more regent days, in the enlarged
enjoyment OF the franchise, Catholics have
largely named the representatives for Ireland
In the imperial Parliament strong Catholic
constitute ncies have returned Protestant mem
bers, and we all know that for years the Catho-
lies OF Ireland stood as one man behind their
representative and leader in their struggle
the Protestant Charles Stewart Parnen.
The Irish Catholics recognize that the strug-
gle for Irish rights has largely been made by
their Protestant fellow-countrymen, who had
the vantage OF the franchise and representa-
the Protestant Grattan who uttered the noble
sentiment, THAT we hold the rights of private
judgment in matters OF religion to be equally
sacred In Others as ourselves and who an
nouneet at snother time that 1.-The Irish Prot
estant could never be free ultil the Irish Cath
olic had ceased to be slave
Whatever national failings Irishmen have,
ingrautude is not one of them. The memory
of the gentle-mannered Emmett, of the impet-
uous Wolfe Tone, OF the brilliant Fitzgerald, OF
John Mitchell, of Thomas Davis, is as strongly
revered by the Irish Catholic as by his fellow
Protestant patriot.
The Catholic renders willing tribute to the
sentiment so beautifully rendered by Thomas
Davis:
What matter that at different shrines
We pray unto one God?
What matter that at different times
Our fathers won the sod?
In fortune and in name we're bound
BY stronger links than steel,
And neither can be sound
But in the others veal.
Oh, il gallant deed
To show before mankind
How every and creed
Might be by love combined;
Might be combined, pet not forget
The fountains whence they rose,
AS filled by many rivuet
The stately Shannon flows.
1t has recently been suggested that this SEN
timent, so well respected by Irishmen, is not
10 obtain in this American Republic. ! enter
tain no apprehension upon the subject. Eng
lish sympathiZers or emissaries, for motives of
their own, may attempt TO build up religious
discord among the citizens OF this Republic
But their efforts must fa1l. Liberty of con-
science is q principle imbedded in the very
foundation OF our form OF government It's
guarantees cannot be disturbed while the re-
public endures. The law of this land is the
law OF universal emancipation, so elOquently
described by Curran. To adapt the language
& GIctt2, we may say that the soil of the Re
public is consecrated to the genius OF universal
emancipation. alike for the native, the stran-
ger for the sojourner.
''No matter in what language his doom may
have been pronounced, no matter what com
plexion incompatible with freedom an Indian
or an African sun may have burned him. no
matter in what disastrous battle mis- liberty |
may have been cloven down, no matter with |
what solemnitfes he may have been devoted |
upon the altar Of slavery, the first moment |
that he touches this sacred soil the altar anu |
the god sink into the dust. His soul walks |
abroad i'll her own majesty, his body swells be- |
yond the measure OF its chains that burst |
around him, and he stands forth redeemed re- |
generated and disenthralled by the irresistible |
genius of universal emancipation"
This American Repu blic shall not retro |
grade. 1t shall continue in the evolution of
It's destiny and shall develop within its con- |
fines a race of people who shall stand foremost
in the world exemplars of intelligence
moral worth and of justice 10 fellow-man. The
people who struck down the manaeles from
the hands of four millions OF black slaves will
not now countenance the disfranchisement or
prescription of ten millions OF their fellow