The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-12-11


jority of Americans never darken the
doors of churches. They find more coll
ISOLATION and truth and satisfaction in
their Sunday newspapers or latest novel
than in listening to the inspired word,
misinterpreted and Knocked by minis
ters of satan, Or, as Christ called them
long ago, wolves in Sleeps clothing.
Those butterflies doncherknow, must
not offend artistocratic sensibilities;
they must not approach too near the
fire else they might have their wings
singed.
I'm the beginning of the fifth century
Ireland was converted from Druidism,
or worship of the sun, to Christianity by
Saint Patrick.
''For three hundred years after her
conversion there never was nation
so happy, so intelligent and prosperous
as Ireland. Churches, colleges and
monasteries sprang up like magic in all
parts of the isle. The fame Of her
scholars and schools spread all over The
seas to the end of the earth.
Il can name at least eight different ma
tions who owe their conversion to Chris
tianity, either directly or Indirectly, to
the pupils of those schools. This was
the golden age of Ireland She was the
paradise of virtue and learning, or if you
will, the Island of Saints and Doctors,
proud title given her unanimously by
the other nations. Civilization kept
pace with her progress in religion; for,
remember that those two, Christianity
and civilization, are twin sisters; where
one fourishes SO too the other, ana
where one suffers, both must suffer. At
that time Irelands commerce extended
to Spain, Carthage and even to Egypt
Her workshops were never SO thrifty
and her factories never so diversified or
numerous. Her laws revised by Saint
Patrick, were just and equitable and
preserved with little modification, until
wrenched from her entirely by her Brit
ish oppressors and the cursed penal
code, substituted.
Her poetry, we are told, was never
excelled, and her music was so much
cherished and cultivated that her ma
tional emblem was, as it remains to
this day, the harp, surrounded by the
emblem of the faith, the
Chosen leaf of bard and chief,
The green immortal shamrock"
Such was Ireland as God, the Cath
olic religion and self-government made
her." ......
FIR Lenihan rapidly glanced at the
change brought about by the Danish and
Norman invaders, and coming to the
period of the infamous penal laws, he
continued:
"But one will say they had law in
Ireland all this time. Yes, they had "a
law that Edmund Burke says had a
vicious perfection This horrld code,
says Montesquien, was contrived by
devils, written in human gore and was
registered in hell. This penal code of
laws legalized the brutal murder of
children, the burning of schools and
churches, the confiscation of homes and
lands, and the Punishment and starva-
ton of Catholic owners. A price of five;
pounds sterling or $25 was set on every
priests head. A school master was a
felon and to teach or be taught, crime;
to repeat the 'crime'-mark we'll the
word-to repeat the crime of teaching
or being taught, was transportation.
Such was the government of Ireland
for centuries until about a hundred
years ago, when the American colonists,
not relishing the treatment of their
cruel stepmother, took up arms and pro-
claimed independence. The Irish exiles
that struggle. When Galloway, speaker
Of the house of assembly in Pennsylva-
mia, appeared before committee of the
house of commons in 1879, he spoke of
the soldiers of the revolution as follows:
The names and places OF their nativity
being taken down, l can say with pre-
cision they were scarcely one-fourth
natives Of America; about one-half
IL 1914, tuc OIIeI lOuilu were fTenc1,
Canadians, English, Scotch and other
nationalities.'
THE fact is set forth in the, parlia-
mentary register that but for Irish
and French assistance America would
not have achieved her independence.
Ever since that event the English and
their Hessian emissaries, like Van Ness,
have been calling the Irish 'rebellious. ,
Do you see why Erin should be loved
by America? Washington publicly
thanked these Irish soldiers for their re-
bellious spirit, and in after years Lin
coin repeated these thanks TO the Irish
Catholics, who SO nobly fought to pre-
serve the union. Well, her Britannia
majesty was greatly humbed by this
'rebellious' Americana -Hibernian rebuke
and urged on by the laundering voice
of the immortal O'Connell she finally
but very reluctantly granted the 'Eman-
cipation Act
''By this act priests head ceased
to have a market value and the crime
(O of education was somewhat mitigat-
ed. But remember, by this relaxation of
the penal code, neither the churches.
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