The Irish standard., 1897-04-17


educating their tldrsn. and were not
allowed even to become their guardians.
They were next disarmed, and their
clergy were obliged to desist from the
exercise Of their functions under pain
of Punishment from their native land.
Such were the laws framed by England
against the Irish people with the royal
sanction Of William of Orange, the very
king who had pledged the nations hon
or, and his own faith for the security
of the rights and privileges of Irish
Catholics as set forth in solemn treaty.
The treaty stone with it's inscription is
yet standing in good state of preserva-
tion in the city of Limerick--a perpetual
reminder to every traveller of British
perfidy and dishonor. It is needless to
dwell on the penal laws passed in the
reigns of Queen Anne and the Georges
for the degradation of the Irish people.
Sufficient to say in the words Of Edmund
Burke that they we're the worst laws
that ever emanated from the perverted
ingenuity of man. The Greek Chris
tians in any part of the Ottoman En1-
pire have never been subjected to such
inhuman, merciless and unrelenting
cruelties as were the Irish Catholics
under the royal tyrants who wore the
crown of England in those days. That
statement is made advisedly and not
at random.
The next solemn treaty between Eng
land and Ireland was in 1882, when par
liamentary Independence was granted
to the effect that ireland was a distinct
nation with parliament of her own,
and that there was no body of men COM
p,etent to make laws for her, but the
king, lords" and commons of Ireland,
nor was there any parliament having
authority of any sort whatever to lesis-
late for her, save the parliament of Ire
land convened at Dublin. In the ad-
dress to the crown Grattan declared
that the Irish people claimed seli-gov-
ernment without any foreign interfer-
ence as their birthright, and that they
would not yield it but with their lives.
The English parliament agreed to grant
Ireland every demand made in the ad-
dress to the throne, but eighteen years
after, by the foulest means possible, the
Irish parliament was destroyed and q
legislative union with England effected.
We have not space to dilate upon the
operation of the act OF union between
Great Britain and Ireland for the past
SO years. So injurious had the union
proved to Ireland that Daniel O'Con-
nell devoted many years in agitating for
it's repeal, but without success. It is
only lately that the Irish people have
realized how they have been systemati-
cally robbed by England in violation of
that solemn agreement called the Act
of Union. A British royal commission
appointed by the London parliament has
reported that Ireland has been enor-
mously overtaxed in violation of the SOL
emn compact Of 1901. The fabulous sum
of one thousand million dollars has been
unjustly taken from Ireland for imperial
purposes. The Irish people Of all classes,
creeds and parties are clamoring for res
titution, but Salisbury and his nephew
only laughs at them and proposes to
appoint another royal commission to
make different report. Not one penny
will England pay back Of her ill-gotten
money to the weaker nation. DR.. john
son said to an Irishman about the time
of the Union: Don't unite with us,
sir; if you do, we will rob you. We
would have robbed the Scotch if they
had anything to rob them off,
The honest old doctor was right, and
now the whole world knows it., but Eng
land is not abashed in the least.
It was the AngloIrish members of
the Dublin parliament that bartered the
liberties of Ireland at the beginning Of
this century despite the protests of the
overwhelming majority of the Irish
people,, 1t is the Anglo american men,
/: bers of the United States senate, backed
by the descendants of the American To-
ries of revolutionary days, that are
clamoring and working for the ratifica-
tion of the Salisbury Olney peace treaty.
Thank God there are not enough of
Anglo-maniacs in this country to bar
ter away the rights Of the people of
America as their brethren did the rights
of the people of Ireland one hundred
years ago. In the words of the paper
quoted at the commencement of this ar
ticle. when England washes her
J9,l hands Of innocent blood we will grasp
them in the bonds of peace"
A CONVERT TO CATHOLICITY.
A special dispatch from New York to