The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-11-12

even domestic; that it was enacted in
defiance of a treaty which had guaran-
teed to Catholics freedom from any
further persecution on account of their
religion, it may justly be regarded as
one of the blacklist pages in the history
OF persecution. Such was the condi-
ton Of this people while she was strug-
Cling for life. In the long and horrible
annals of barbarity, in all the sickening
history of mans inhumanity to man,
there is nothing that approaches it. The
prosecutions of the pagan emperors
were equalled and surpassed; Nero and
Diocletian, Alva and Wallinstein are
angels of mercy compared to Cromwell
and other English leaders in this un-
happy country.
After the session of 1896 the United
lrishmen. having lost all hope of JUS
tlce, resolved on armed resistance. They
began to manufacture pixies and to hide
arms They did not intend, however,
simply to make targets of themselves
by going into the revolution unaidetl,
and therefore looked for foreign aid,
having the example of America in mind.
Now, the government increased the
! herceness of the persecution. Houses
We're burned, people were tortured, put
to the rack, scourged to death, hanged
until unconscious, taken down and
hanged again and again. The ptch-capc
that Improvement on the acalping knife
| OF the red Indian, was a favorite amuse-
| ment OF the soldiers. All this was done
under the prcteXt of collecting arms and
e&torting confessions. Lord Carhamp-
ton, the commander-in-chief, resigned
would not be partner to such atroc-
tiles. Sir Ralph Abercrombie did the
same, protesting that the soldiers were
guilty of every crime that Cossacks or
Calmucks could commit. Lord Fitz
William was sent over with distinct
understanding that he would begin par-
llamentary reform aud Catholic reform,
/: AS soon as he set about this work he
was recalled.
| Then Castlcreagh conceived a hide
GUS thing. OF all The nations of the
earth,' says Mr.. Stead the Irish are
pre-eminent for their love Of stainless
chastity No extreme OF poverty, no
AFFECT want no condition of crowded
cabin or dark tenement has taken away
from them the love Of that supreme vir-
tue. In the cottage. in the cabin of the
humblest Irishman every woman is a
sister of the Madonna, and whether
maid or matron shares in the mystic
glory of the Mother of Cod. Irishmen
Will bear any suffering, any loss, any
! privation when it concerns themselves,
| but touch their women and then, at any
cost, without counting costs, the Cclt
will strike back.
"Castlereagh knew this, and he order
ed 1900 ruf1lans to be received at
what he called free quarters into Irish
homes. He knew what would follow
he calculated on it. The Irish We're I'M
armed, they were completely at the
| mercy of these ruffians. No victims
were ever more completely in the power
| ,.
to take those men to he'd and board.
The country shuddercd with horror.
This act gives Cast lcreagh the highest
niche in the temple of infamy. It is
what William r. Stead calls the SILL
prcme crime Of history. All other means
had failed to produce Instruction.
Castleragh, having the legislative union
in view, sent 1871 900 ruflians TO outrage
the women of Ireland, and the country
flew into maddenei revolt.
During all the long and bitter days
OF the struggle. though they had been
| tortured into rebellion the Irish were
never guilty of one single outrage upon
women many Of them were in their
possession: those men who had been so
treated by the cnery gathered together
| the wives and daughters of their
enemies in the towns they took and pro-
| tcctcd them from wrong and Hay and
| plowden and GoldCn and Musgravc and
l.ecky and every historian who has
! ever written on the subject draws at
| tention to the fact that he men of '9S
never forgot that honor and that rev.
! GRANGE for woman which has always
| been so clear to the Irish race
But the rebellion was over. Pitt and
Castlereagh could now carry tho union.
1t was effected by this supreme crime
! of history and the loss of probably 10
600 lives. What did that matter? Never
theess the Irish race lives, and is still
a power in the world, for Sir Charles
| Dixie said the other day that there
was no hope Of an Anglo-Saxon alliance
until justice had been done to ireland.
Stead says no Englishman ought to
mention Ireland before the civilized
world until he has put on sackcloth and
ashes. The cause Of Ireland is the cause
of right, of liberty, of nationality, OF
freedom, Of conscience, of justice, and
it must prevail
Henry Norman succeeds the late Iar-