The Irish standard., 1897-11-06
AN ENGLISH RADICAL JOURNAL ON
THE 'OS CENTENNIAL.
CHARACTERIZATION OF The oaANeEMEK
OF KING WILLIAM ARE
TOOLS OF LANDLORDS.
NATIONAL SPIRIT WARMLY UPHELD
ULSTER I'ROTESTANTS WE'RE pa
TRIOTS IN THE PAST.

The following article is taken from
Reynolds Newspaper, the Radical organ
of Great Britain. Of which w. w. Thomp-
son, patriotic Ulster man, is editor:
The whole Irish world is now in a
ferment with preparations for the ccc-
bration next year of the centenary Of
the great Irish Rebellion of 1898. In
Ireland, England. America and Austria
liza, wherever two or three OF the much
dispersed Irish are gathered together,
plans are being concerted for proclaim
ing to the world the indcstructibility of
the Irish national idea. The wonderful
tenacity Of the Irish to this notion of
nationhood through all the changing
centuries is only equaled in firmncss
by the clinging amid adversely and
persecution and dispersal of the Jews
to their religious and radical brother
hood. Such a phenomenon as this is
not to be scoffed at by the shallow or
put aside by the superior" blockhcal.
1t is a great fact which statesmen.
whether they like it or not will have
to face
1t will be peculiarly appropriate to
the occasion if the plutocratic govern
ment now In power succeed in giving
Ireland n liberal measure of county
government, as they have promised
But plutocratic promises, unfortunately
as we have too often sadly experienced,
are made to be broken. Strange failure
OF English rule in Ireland that at. the
close of a century from the Union Ire
land is as politically dlscontentcd as
ever, and that all England can point to
as the result of her rucrship is a dc
populated country and famine-strick-
en- people,
Some attempts are being made bv
fanatics like Mr.. William Johnston. M
r., to stimulate the government to sup
press tho celebration. There was n
time when the Ulster Professionals would
have spurned with Indignation the ilcn
that their representatives should be the
mere voting cattle of an English party.
The Ulster Protestant volunteers de-
mandcd the independence of Ireland
Some of the flower of the Prcsbyteri-
ans of Ulster died on the scaffOld as
- hn ~; D,l
English domination and cxploitalion
The Plunkcts, billions, Aylmcrs, Bra
bazons, Fitzgeralds, Lord Bristol, the
patriotic Bishop of Derry, were eager
rebels How could it be otherwise?
Between 17l5 and 1892 England having
prohibited the Irish wooden trade and
having enforced, with characteristic
leroclty, the test acts, 10000 Ulster
Prcsbyterians were compelled to leave
their homes. At a later period, In con-
sequence OF the Infamous cvictions of
Lord Donegal, In Antrim, 10000 Prot
estants left Ulster for America. So
wicked was the conduct of tho lriuh
landlords, that Henry VIII.--no very
fiscatcd the estates of the absentee land
lords, and in 1919 an absentee tax of
4s. In the pound was proposed by the
Irish Protestant parliament.
How William III. would smile at the
toast of his GLORIOUS, pious and i'm
mortal memory" William was about
the only really liberal monarch this
country has had, and on that account
he was detestcd by the English Tories.
who were all in favor of James H.,
whom the Ulster PrOtcstants drove
back from the walls of Derry and van
qnishcd at the Boync. Time was when
the Roman Catholic bishops and priests
of TSrry walked in procession with the
apprentice boys in memory of the GAL
liant defense of that historic town. Now
it. has been degraded into a party and
"rcligiOns' triumph.
The Orangcmcn of Ulster are Il sturdy
and Independent race; but they are ig-
norant. They do not read; many o.
them do not think. They live on few
phrases. They are bcfoolcd into acting
as the agents of the landlords and cap
italists, and certainly in many rcspcc.s
they deserve no better fate than to be
the ministers Of their own destruction.
There is no doubt that, in political in
telligence, the Orangcmcn workmcn are
behind the rest Of the kingdom. Every
where but in Ulster the working men
are combining for their own interests.
They do not care fig for Tory or Lib
era1, except In so far as It suits their
particular objects. The representatives
of Orange Ulster in the house OF COM
mons never take the slightest interest
in any question affecting the people,
unless it be for their good, and then
they vote against any proposal in that
direction. What record of work done