The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-04-29
SCOTLAND ESPECIALLY IS BACKWARD
Hard to Induce Irishmen to Take
the Saxon Shilling.
REGIMENT OF THE GUARDS
Great Generals of the Army are
Natives of Ireland.

In a special cable to last Sundays
New York World its London CORE
spondent says:
England must prepare to make big
financial sacrifice if she wishes to avoid
conscription i'll some form.
The military authorities here are at
their wits end to stimulate recruiting,
which has shown great falling off.
1t was decided recently to add another
battalion to the Scots Guards, but so
few recruits have come forward that
special permission has been obtained
to enlist men in Ireland for this nomi-
nally Scottish regiment.
But that is an old story, as there are
almost as many Irishmen as Scotchmen
in some Of the most famous fighting
Highland regiments.
Despite all the fresh inducements of
pay and pension recently offered, involv-
ing large additional charge On the
nation, the army is only getting the
dregs of the population.
Scotland especially is backward. Even
in Ireland it is harder to get soldiers
than formerly.
This state Of affairs is attributed in
some measure to the improvement in
trade and the consequent satisfactory
condition OF the labor market, for it is
known fact that except in few dis
tlicts in the north of England English
men rarely become soldiers except
through want of employment.
1t is different in Ireland, but there
political feeling is a great drag on re-
cruiting
The army reformers insist that the dill
fculty can only be surmounted by pay
ing at the rate of the labor market and
giving the soldier "a cents day clear,
instead Of. deducting his rations from
that pay as at present.
Another London correspondent in a
dispatch dated April 10 has the follow
ing to say on the Irishmen in the Brit
ish army:
The Irish have always furnished more
than their share of fighting men, They
have fought for themselves, they have
fought for others. There was an Irish
man, "Guillermo Ires," or William Har-
ris, with Christopher Columbus, who
was left at His2aniola by the admiral,
and undoubtedly had some fighting to
do before he met his death with his
companions; there we're Irish at Fon-
tenoy, and Irish in the kings army and
in the American army during the Rcvo-
luton; there were Irish in the War Of
1872, and in the Mexican War; the Civil
War and Irish everywhere, on both
sides of the Mason and Dixon line. In
fact, wherever there are blows to be
given and others to be had, the Irish
man has been. The principal generals
of the British army have been and are
Irish. Wellington was an Irishman;
Wolseley and Roberts are Irishmen:
Kitchener is another. But the British
army, though it is made up largely OF
Irishmen and has several Irish regi-
ments of the line which have always
distinguished themselves, has never had
regiment of the Guards made up os-
tensibly and publicly of Irishmen. Now
the Horse Guards is talking of organ
izing such a regiment.
The government, as everyone knows,
has never tried to placate the Irish. AS
soon as the Scots insurrection of 1z45
was put down, the British government
started in to appease the Scots heart.
Regiments were raised, the men of
which, alone of the Scots, were allowed
to wear the highland costume; and they
wear that costume to this day. But no
such treatment has ever been accorded to
the Irish, and it may be too late to be-
gin it now. Undoubtedly the agitators
will rage and argue and denounce any
Irisfman who enters an Irish regiment
of the Guards; but there are so many
Irish in the regiments of the Guards
which are not Irish, that perhaps the
creation OF an Irish regiment would not
strain Irish loyalty to ireland.
There are three regiments of Foot
Guards in the British army now. The
senior regiment, though not the oldest,
is the Grenadier Guards, composed of
three battalions. Then comes the old
est regiment in the army, the Cold
stream Guards, also with three battal-
ions; and then the Scots Guards, with
two battalions formed and third au-