The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 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 hypocrites often assert that
the reason why parliament does not
grant home rule to Ireland is that the
Irish arc 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 ii the proposition be accepted that
the government of II 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
rulo there. She has been trying to do
SO for 100 years, and has not only failed,
but has disgraccfully failed. She has
| murdered and pundcred: she has i'm
povcrished and swindlcd; she has OBJ
strnctcd education and religion; she has
reduced tho population and increased tho
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 Legitimate
and wicked.
There are other damnns facts to be
brought before the world by the new
Irish agitation that Is about to begin.
l'ut amy student of economies can UNI
dcrstand The following incontrovcrtble
reason for the arraignmcnt of alien rule.
Tho history of civilization and hu-
| man progress shows that mankind has
gradually advanced through four stages
to its present position in the most en-
,, liglltcncd countries. First, man was a
hunter, roaming over wide and srarscly
inhabited regions of the earth. For it
takes a whole country to feed the fam
lily that depends on hunting for IL liv-
lnE. This is the stage OF savagery.
The ncXl stage is an advance on the
first. Man began to form small clans,
or small tribes, and to domcsticate cat
tie. This is the pastoral stage of hu-
man evolution, and IL 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
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 Il fur
ther stage of cvolution--the third, or
agricultural stage Men began to TIL
the ground and reap the harvest. They
fOilnu that tbnir elil,ciut
secure and abundant than when they
lived by cattlo grazing. They found,
too, that Il quarter section of land, or
less, could support family comrorta-
bly,. In this stage mankind developed
the social virtues, and created human So
cicty. Nciglbor relied on ncighbor, and
patriotism, or earth-lovc 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 I'D
| around fcuda castles, and the burger "
citizen was brought into the closest re-
latiOns with his fellows. Now, instead
Of requiring a whole country for sub
sistence, Il family thinks itself lucky if
1t possesses a town lot. The division of
labor and the eXchung" of industrial
products render men absolutely depend
"a puch nthnr lnnrn hot
called civic virtues arc engcndercd. The
word civil means peculiar to the COM
mcrcial stage. Civilization is the re-
suit of the interaction of mind upon
mind and the constant effort to supply
all the convcnicnces and comforts ard
adornmcnts of life has created marvels
| of mechanical and chemical devices that
render human life pleasantcr and human
/ labor more tOlerablc.
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 ascriDe its 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 it's course, and occasionally
| one nation, by war or other violence,
Expresses 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