The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-11-05
PARTICIPANTS In HER CRIMES.
Fighting for Her and Quarreling
Among Themselves.
A VERY HUMlLIATlNG SUBJECT
Speech by FIR. P. F. Kayanagh,
Historian of '98.

An able and patriotic speech, entitled
Our Past and Present; Our Faults and
Our Dangers" was delivered in Schulz,
County Cork, Il short time ago by the
Rev. Fr. p. T.. Kavanagh. o. S. F., the
scholarly and eloquent. Irish priest.
Father l[avanagh devoted part of his
address to an arralgnmcnt of those of his
countrymcn who had taken part in the
various wars wagcd by England, which
Father Kavauagh said:
"Musng over the sad history of our
country, which for centuries has Jour-
ncyed on a do!cful road. rc,ldcned with
blood or bcwcdcd with tears. have you
ever asked yourselves, my friends, as l
have often asked myself, what crime did
we or our ancestors commit that our be-
loved land should have been so dread
fully scollrgcd with all the evils that
cruel, rcmorselGss tyranny tyranny
which seemed at times more devilish than
human in its acts and mo!iv"S-coud
intIirt upon Il dcfcnsclcsS people. |, like
many another lrishman. have often
lwclt on this subjc, in painful thought,
and | have at length come to what seems
to me Il reasonable con, luson. and found
Il sufficient cause of lr,lanlS iong-cn-
durcd suffering of hcr srcminGly inter-
minablc murtyrlom My conclusion is
this, that We have deserved our suffer-
ngs MS IL punishment for two grave
faults, or rather crimes. or. To put ii an
other way, our own actions " ne the sul-
ncicnt cause of our suifcrinss The
greatest, If not the first, of these crimes
WAS our lighting for England in her wick
cd wars: and as far as | know. all her
wars were wicked wars. undertaken for
the bascst motives, aud generally carried
on with the greatest cruelty against
weak and barbarouS nations. Our secs
ond great crime WAS fighting among our-
selves, without any conceivable motive
except childish jealousy of ono another.
This is what We have done for long
years. This is what we arc doing 10 this
very day--Gghting for England and quar-
rclling among ourselves. Now, a few
words about lIngland's wars, in the car
rying on Of which We Irish have been
her guilty accompliccs.
''lt is only the Christian nation--tho
nation of the Open BlbIe'-that has
never advanced its standard or planted
its hostile foot in any country but uni
vcrsal bcg2ary and misery became the
chronic condition of that country. 1t is
only the Christian nation of the Open
Bible that never yet won the affection
OF mcritcd the gratitude Of any country
II sul,ducd, but was followed everywhere
by malcdictions bitter and heavy us the
wrongs that had evoked them. If you
doubt the truth of this statement turn
your eyes on India--India. one of the
most fertile countries in the world,
nboundlng in every kind Of natural
wealth; India, the gorgeous land of the
sun, whose riches tempted the greatest
cOnqucrors OF the world, from the day
when her soil echoed to The tramp Of the
leglons OF the great Macedonian to that
when the last OF the Mahommcdan i'll
vaders planted his victorious standard
on her soil. Conuucrors came and de-
parted, but still the country tlourished.
1t still retained the elements of prosper
ity--tlc fruitful soil still fed its children
and peace returning retrieved the raw
ages OF war.
'But from the fatal day Oh which she
first felt the deadly clutch of English
power she has pincd and withered,
wasted to Il mere skeleton. What is her
condition now? Words cannot paint her
wretchedncss. She is robbed every year
of fifty millions Of money pressed we'll
nigli to death III Il vast financial machine,
! her 22O,0OO,0 900 Of inhabitants living for
the most part in q state Of scmi-starva-
tlon. UndcniHblc statistics have proved
that the average income Of the individual
Indian is only three half-pencc a day,
and that the convicts in ordinary Euro
pcan prisons are better fed and clad than
the people of that most unhappy land.
"I'hus it might have been with the
United States, now SO great and prosper
Gus, had not the young giant when lie
first felt the touch Of the vampire, sprang
to his feet and spurned away the foul
thing which 1t seems cannot live with
out sucking the life-blood cut of men.
Canada, too, woke in time before being
bled to death by this monstrous blood
sucker. and Is now matted on the back
and caresscd by the very hand that would
have strangled her. In the time OF
| danger the big brother stood by with up
lifted arm, and his presence saved her