The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-10-28
IRISH SYMPATHY FOR 8OERS
NEVERTHELESS THEY TAKE UP
ARMS AGAINST BUTCHERS.
1t Is Painful and Humiliating to
Note the Number of Irish Enlist
ing In the Army of Her Enemy.

CPC 1Ol the ScilIdIll DUETS Oh lll6 eN Z VI
their life and death struggle for indie
pendence. it is a source of deep and bit
ter humiliation to us to read in the pa
perS to which we eagerly turn for news
OF the Transvaal that regiments with
irish names are going out to South AT
r1ca, not to be the armed and living eX-
preston of the will of the Irish nation
to fight on the side of right and justice,
but to fight in opposition to tine nation
al will, as servants of our deadly enc
my, in one of the most unjust and in
1quitous wars that ever disgraced the
world.
1t is such a humiliating and painful
subject that l have long heSitated be-
fore writing on it-but it is not by hid
| ing facts, however ugly, or by shutting
| our eyes to them, that a remedy can
ever be found. l know that this also is
| the opinion of the editor of the courage
Gus paper for which | am Writinag,
whose claim to the gratitude of Nation
! aliStS is that it speaks openly and fear
lessly on all Irish subjects, uninfiuenced
| by the thought of what may please or
| displease timid adversaries or support
ers, and guided only by the policy of
| freedom for Ireland
The Dublin and the Munster Fusillers
are not entirely composed of Irishmen.
They may have been once, they are not
! today; recruiting in Ireland l am glad
| to say-and [ have this from the lips of
an English generals falling off very
considerably; the so-called Irish regi-
ments have to be made up by a. large
mixture of English COckneys. England
! jealousy conserves the Irish names of
her regiments in order to show the
world that there are still IriShmen so
devoid of dignity that they will wear
tine uniform of their oppressors, and
thus destroy or weaken the sympathy
and respect which Ireland possesses
among foreign nations, and change
that sympathy into plying con-
tempt.
But though the number of Irish re-
cruits for the English army is dimin
ishing, the sad fact still remains that
there are a large number of young
Irishmen wearing the shameful uniform
of serVitude. Let US examine for a mo-
ment the causes.
The Irish are essentially a military
race, debarred from a military career
in their own land; they have furnished
distinguished soldiers in most of the
armies of Europe, and America owes,
in a great measure her independence
to the bravery of the Irishmen who
fought for her. Each year l receive
numerous letters from young Irishmen
asking me to obtain means for them to
join the French army, but today in
modern Europe foreigners are eXclud-
ed from military service, and the Irish
thus find themselves shut out from the
profession which they love, and many
young Irish boys thoughtlessIy let
themselves be tempted by the love or
glamour of a uniform to join the Eng
lish army. Then, again, the economic
conditions are so terrible in Ireland
wilfully made terrible by the English
system of misgovernment-that it is
very hard for an Irish boy to gain his
living in his own country, and some, to
avoid starvation, accept the queens
shilling. l have seen this more than
once during famine years in the west,
though on the whole l have been great
ly struck by the heroic endurance of
cur western peasants, who mostly pre-
fer starvation to the shame of wearing
England's cOlors. l am afraid drink
is responsible for the largest number of
Irish recruits Boys go off for an out
ing, they get excited, they hardly know
what they do. and When they come to
themselves they find they are enlisted
and many and many wonder however
they came to make that fatal mistake.
The recruiting sergeants are every
where in Ireland, on the watch to en-
trap our healthy peasant boys fer the
British army England knows that
sooner or later she Will have to fight q
coalition of Europe. Her able diplo-
matiGts and, above all, her cunning al
lies, VINO fCment QuaTTelS and internal
strife among the different countries
whom her policy of grab has exasper-
ated, may be able to stave off the day
of reckoning for a time, but sooner or
later it will come, and she knows that
it is not with the punty, diseased refuse
of the slu1ns of her great nanufactur-
ing towns that she will be able to meet
tine armed nations Of Europe. One sig
nificant fact 1 have just heard in sew
eral towns of the west is that recruit
ing sergeants are offering 5s. instead OF
Is to induce boys to enlist.
In the matter of enlistment in tine
British army, heavy and terrible re-
spOnsibiliIy lies at the door CT the irish
press-I mean the sO-called Nationalist
press; for on the unionist papers, of
course, l have no comment to make,
they are in their role. Not only do we
find no articles in our newspapers
warning the people against enklStlnS,
and pointing out to them the crime and
shame it is for an Irishman, while his
country is suffering under foreign gov
eminent, to wear the uniform of that
government, but we read accounts OF
military Pageants, portraits OF offlcers,
and such like are given, until the news
paper-reading public get so accustomed
to look on these English soldiers as ia
miliar objects that, forgetting our ms
tory then begin to take an interest ana
a pride in their exploits. 1t is this
which renders the work of the recruit
ing agents possible in Ireland. do not
believe these Irish papers realize the
terrible harm they are doing; they nave
no idea beyond that of the immediate
advantage of securing a certain circu-
lation among the hangers-on OF the
barracks.
While the majority of Irishmen are
smarting under the shame OF seems
regiments with Irish names, SUCH as
the Dublin and the Munster fusilleers,
sent out to fight against the Beers. the
time is opportune to CALI attention TO
this very serious subject and point out
clearly to the people that the Irishman
who Joins the English army or navy
must find himself sooner or later
Obliged to choose between this awful
lternative-either to face the danger
of deserving before the enemy Wnlch
would be the right and noble thing for
an Irishnlan to do (but how many,
wonder, would have the moral anu
physical courage for such an act), or
else to commit the unfoTgivable crime
of striking a blow against his mother
land and against freedom. Every enemy
of England is, under existing cir
necessarily the friend OF
ireland. and every blow struck for
England every shot fred in her SER
vice, is a blow struck against Ireland.
If is a matter of such national inn
to Ireland that L would ike
to see resolutions warning the people
against enlisting passed at every meet
ing, both in Ireland. England or Scot
land. where Irishmen come together for
any purpose whatever.
In Keeping.
Boston Transcript