The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-12-18
A DISTINGUISHED STATESMAN
Catholics and Protestants Honor
the Famous IriShman
AT THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY
DR.. Healy, the Bishop of Clonfert,
Offers a Resolution.
The centenary commemoration of Ed

The centenary commemoration of Ed
mund Burke, the great Irish statesman.
took place on the evening of Nov, "a
In the Royal University buildings, Dub
lin. Lord Dufferin, chancellor of the
university, and a kinsman of Richard
Brinsley Sheridan, the colleague of
Burke in the prosecution Of Warren
Hastings, presided at the meeting. The
Protestant archbishop of Dublin, the
Catholic bishop Of Clonfert, the repre-
sentatives of educational institutions.
priests and parsons, Nationaltsts and
Conservatives, occupied seats on the
platform. 1t was q representative
gathering in every sense of the word.
The eulogy on Burke was delivered by
noted Catholic priest, the Rev. Will
liam Barry, D. D., whose name stands
high in literature and theology. This
choice of orator was seemly, for though
Burke was a Protestant, he was the
friend of Catholics, the friend of re-
ligious freedom, and man in thorough
sympathy with Catholic philosophy and
with the Catholic idea Of respect for
lawful authority. DR.. Barry spoke as
follows:
In coming before them on day so
memorable his apology-and he trusted
It would be sufficient-was that by de-
scent, feelings and aspirations he was
entirely Irish. And when he was called
to this place by their committee he
could not find 1t in his heart to disobey
their summons. He belonged to that
Ireland which everywhere, abroad as
well as at home, was race, q spirit,
and genius which stood distinguished
by its own clear qualities and its active,
bold, forward looking, the advance
guard, as they trusted, Of the army
which was to conquer and subdue the
future as it had come victorious, though
bleeding, out of the past. To that Ire
land he (Father Barry) claimed to be-
long, and If they named it, significant
ly, the Greater Ireland or the New Ire
land, they thought of it as carrying to
the four winds and to the uttermost
parts Of the sea, to the West and South,
across the Atlantic and Pacific, a mes
sage from this ancient isle, the poetry,
the eloquence, the humor, the pathos
and the ideals Of our Celtic and Nor
man forefathers blended in tempera-
ment which had it's charms of persua-
sive power, and mingling with the
sombre civilization that had brought
to our grave modern cities strain more
musical than their incessant battle cries.
The Greater Ireland would fain do
homage before Its hero and legislator
who was her voice in Europe one hun
dred years ago, sounding like trumpet
call against anarchy, would bow down
In his presence and contemplate his
achievements with reverent eyes and
listen to his words of wisdom again and
take pattern by them. In her name he
(Father Barry saluted Edmund Burke,
and In theirs, as the supreme Irish
statesman without a rival In range of
sympathy or depth of insight or pas
sion for social reason and political
Righteousness. He was our possession
and our pride, as Shakespeare was the
crown of English drama. But Edmund
Burke RECALLED in the majestic march
of his language John Milton; and in
his method of political discernment, but
In no pettiness or mean self regard,
Francis Bacon; in his crusade of pity,
Clarkson, or Father Mathew; and in
his loyal service to the land that bore
him, he recalled Swift and Grattan and
O'Connell. He was conspicuous and
great from every point Of view-in
aesthetics, economics, politics, in liter
ature, and in parliament. Whether he
spoke or wrote or drew up codes Of
legislation and reform, he must be
ranked among the founders of the new
order of things in which Ireland, Amer
lea and India prophesied Of the world to
come as unlike the old and as regard
less of the crumbling institutions un-
der the darkened sky under which he
lived and wrought, as his philosophy
was grander than the superstitions that
blinded his contemporaries. Let him
(Father Barry) recall to- them the gov
erning dates of Burke's career: How
that he was born in Dublin in the year
1880; how that he took his degree in
Trinity College at the age Of eighteen
and passed into Parliament in 1865;
how that for thirty years he labored
there, and then they would remember
1888 as the beginning of the great
charge and accusation against Warren
Hastings and then the end of 1897. They
Gould not celebrate Edmund Burke more
worthily than by endeavoring to enter