The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-05-26
BYw. BoURKE COCHRAN.

B4 W. BOOEEhE COChESA4N.
When the brutal declaration of Lore
Salisbury is calmy considered, the fair
minded man can come to but one con
clusion. He must recognize the self
evident fact that England's course il
inconsistent with public peace and com
mon progress.
Salisbury's speech has been a gooC
thing for the cause of Ireland.
1t has shown England in her true
colors and the aristocracy of Great
Britain has been brought to exposure
upon itself. England stands today alone
and discredited among the nations oi
the world.
For ten years the spirit of Irish ma
tionalitY seemed to have sunk so low
that it's enemies regarded it with con-
tempt. The tide of opposition to foreign
domination became so sluggish that 1t
separated into fractional streams which
| dissipated it's strength. But no sooner
had the sword of aggression and rapine
been drawn against a yirtuOus people,
even at the other side of the equator,
| than fractional differences disappeared
! before a stern public opinion which
| forced all Irish parties to present a
united front in opposition to this cru
SADIE of crime
! Robert Emmett according to his own
words, struggled to achieve the bless
| ings of free government Through the
vindication of justice and strict obe-
dience to the moral law. The success
of such an enterprise in his day or in
this could never result in injury or OPP
preston to single human being.
Justice and revenge are incompatible.
The triumph of one is necessarily the
defeat of the other. By this it is not
meant that wrong can ever become
right, or that justice should for any
reason tolerate or compromise with in
justice. The same principle which con-
dennis an injury enjoins reparation for
injury. The same moral law which
prohibits US from committing injustice
prohibits us from submitting TO it.
Robert Emmett's demand on behalf of
the Irish people was not for revenge or
even for reparation from those who
had wrecked the national prosperity,
but for liberty to repair by their own
peaceful efforts the injuries inflicted
upon them during seven centuries of
barbarous oppression.
That is the demand of the Irish peo-
pie today It is not a demand for VEN
geance-a proposal for disturbance or
injustice. 1t is demand for pustice
tempered with mercy-an offer of for
giveness and reconciliation.
That demand is made now, not by
one man, from a convict's dock, but by
millions from the platform of public
opinion; not from Ireland alone, but
from every quarter of the civilized
globe.
Ireland is not languishing from the
oppression merely of this day, of this
year, but from the wrongs of seven CEN
turtles.
The suppression and prohibition of
Irish manufactures, the systematic, pit
Hess destruction of the Irish shipping
industries and the export trade pre-
vented any natural creation of capital
for centuries, while the institution of
landlordism continues 20 draw from the
country the profits of agriculture which
under happier conditions, would be used
in promoting the productive capacity
of the soil.
We don't recall these grievances now
to seek vengeance for them, but to
prove that the government, which, for
seven centuries. has been a CHASTITY
failure, by its own confession, is not
the government which can be trusted
with the difficult, delicate, laborious
task of repairing the disasters which it |
has caused.
In demanding the right to decide for |
themselves the conditions under which |
they will seek to restore the prosperity |
of their country, the Irish people are |
but invoking for Ireland the principle |
which Great Britain is pretending now
to enforc in South Africa. They de- /
mand that, in Ireland, as elsewhere, |
the consent of the governed shall be /
as the only defensibIe
basis of government. They demand |
that the relations between England and
ireland, whatever they may be, shall +
be established upon the consent Of the
irish peOple-not on the brute power of
the English government. More than
this they do not ask, but with less than
this the Irish people will never be con-
tent.
The refusal of this demand has been
hitherto by the pretense that
% grant it would endanger England's
sovereignty. While this plea was adj
fanced to justify the subjugation of
Ireland alone, it was overlooked by the
civilized world. Its assertion to South
Africa practically extends it over the
globe and makes it a menace to ciVili-
.ation. In the last analysis it places
england in hostility to every govern
nent in the world, including this gov
If England's sovereignty de-
)endS upon the denial of Justice to all
'ther countries, then it's sovereignty is
Inconsistent with the welfare of hu-
nanity, and its destruction becomes the
upreme duty of civilization
L care not with what arms such a
government may be sustained. l care
lot what generals may command them
7hat wealth may equip them, what i'm
dement's of destruction may aid them,
he history of the world shows they
rill be defeated, COMPOUNDED and over
brown; for they will be warning !
gainst kingdom which has prevailed
gainst all the empires ever founded 7
y man. 1t does not command armies.
hough no hosts have been able to I
verthrow it. Defeated it has often ;
cen, destroyed it can never be- The +
1ins of ancient dynasties are the :
comments of its irresistible might. !
ne history of nations which once held /
over and abused it, is the record of :
s 1nexorable DEGREES. It's authority
oes not spring from this earth, but its