The Irish standard., 1898-07-23
TRYING 1T SEVEN CENTURIES
job n Bulls Policy to Keep 1t a Fine
DraW-Farm.
COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURE
A Severe Indictment Against the
English Robbers.

English hypocritcs often assert that
| the reason why parliament does not
| grant home rule to Ireland is that the
| Irish are incapable of governing them
selves, says w. NJ. c. in the Irish World.
This purely gratuitous statement is un-
supported by any evidence whatever.
| but if the proposition be accepted that
the government of Il country should be
| placed only in competent hands, there
is no rightful support for English rule
! in Ireland, for 1t is evident from it's
! effects that England is incompetent to
| ruc there. She has been trying to do
SO for 700 years, and has not only failed,
but has disgracefully failed. She has
murdered and plundered; she has i'm
povershcd and swindlcd: she has OBJ
strncted education and religion; she has
reduced tho population and increased the
taxes. All these patent facts and the
| condition of Ireland during the cursed
| reign of Victoria prove that England is
incompetent to govern Ireland, and
therefore her alien rule is illcgi1imate
| and wicked.
There are other damning facts to be
brought before the world by the new
Irish agitation that is about to begin.
l'nt any student of economics can un-
| dcrstand the following incontrovcrtible
reason for the airaignmcnt of alien rule.
The history of civilization and hu-
ShDwc that IL inI b,,.
gradually advanced through four stages
| to It's present position in the most en-
! ligltcncd countries First, man was IL
hunter, roaming over wide and srarscly
inhabited regions of the earth For it
takes whole country to feed the fam
lily that depends on hunting for liv-
ing. This is the stage OF savagery.
The next stage is an advance OH the
first. Man began to form small clans,
or small tribes, and to domestcate cat
tie. This is the pastoral stage OF hl-
man evolution, and IT existed all over
Europe and Asia in times not very re-
mote. But when human beings in
creased there was not room for the cat
tic ranges Of all, for several sections of
land would be needed to accommodate
a single family. The amount of land re-
mains the same, but the people who live
on 1t and by it have multiplied. This
state of things drove mankind 70 fur
ther stage of cvolution-the third, or
| agricultural stage Men began to till
the ground and reap the harvest They
bnf hot,
secure and abundant than when they
lived by cattlo grazing. They found,
too, that II quarter section of land, or
less. could support family comrorta-
bly,. In this stage mankind developed
the social virtues, and created human So
cicty. Ncighbor relied on ncighbor, and
patriotism, or carth-love, was planted in
their hearts. Nations were formed ana
governments established, and rights and
justice recognized The agricultural
stage OF human progress is generally
| conceded to be that in which there was
most happiness But still population
kept on increasing, and men were driven
to take another step forward. This is
the commercial stage. Cities grew up
around fcudal castles, and the burger VI
citizen was brought into the closest re-
lations with his fellows. Now, instead
Of requiring a whole country for sub
sistence, a family thinks itself lucky if
1t possesses a town lot. The division of
labor and the exchange of industrial
products render men absolutely depend
cnt on each other. Hence, what are
called civic virtues are engcndered. The
word civil means peculiar to the COM
mercial stage. Civilization is the re-
suit of the interaction of mind upon
mind and the constant effort to supply
all tho convcnienccs and comforts ard
adornmcnts of life has created marvels
of mechanical and chemical devices that
render human life pleasantcr and human
! labor more tolerable.
No doubt the progression through
this series of stages is part of the plan
of Divine Providence for mans advance
ment to better things And when any
nation passes regularly and not TOO
slowly through these successive stages,
we ascribe it's progress rightly to tho
directing hand of the Almighty. We
note that sometimes events occur to Oh
struct human progress, and that some
times international jealousies are OBJ
stacles to its course. and occasionally
one nation, by war or other violence,
oppresses another. delays its advance
ment, and temporarily flies in the face
of Providence, and with diabolioal
purpose rebels against the love Of God.
Let us view the case of Ireland as an 4