The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-04-07

>' >S'N Je'eiiy PnA'iSAPotioil III q
wicked war, Every Catholic child
learns in its catechism that the end
does not justify the means"
But, on the other hand, while no one
can without sin aid an unjust aggrcssor
on the property or rights OF life of an
other. a man may lawfully help his
neighbor-that is, every human being
in resisting this unjust aggression. The
gallant Beers are now defending life
and liberty against an enemy to whom
they have given no cause OF ofrcnse,
which would at all justify war; there
tore, men OF other nations may aid
them with money, munitions OF war, or
by fighting on their side. ireland re-
joiccd to hear that some OF her sons
had taken up arms in the Bocr ranks.
But if few hundred Irishmen have
taken up arms to aid the brave Boer
farmers, who are fighting against the
mercenaries OF England as our anccs-
tors did in 'oS--it is sad to think that
thousands OF Irishmen with Encland's
red livery on their backs are vending
theirway to Africa to help her i'll slaugh-
tering them. We deplore the iact-thc
disgraceful, the shameful fact. Must
lrisfnicn forever tread in the bloody
trail OF England? Is it not enough
for them to feel that they themselves
are slaves? Must they seek to reduce
other men to the same miserable con-
dition?
Must tfev be ever drawing down
upon their heads the curses OF freemcn
whom they as England's hirclings seek
to deprive OF liberty. l repeat now
what | have often stated before. that ii
Ireland had committed no other crime
than that OF aiding England in her
wicked wars (and what war wagcd by
her, at least during our time was not
wicked) she would eservc all the ca
lamities that have befallen her. Some
perhaps, well-intentioned Irishmen try
to cstrange our sympathy from the
Boers by talking OF their bigotry. But
does the fact-ii it be fac,-that the
Beers are bgots. make their cause un
just?
Can we blame them if, when driven
by English tyranny and manifold per-
secution into the wilderness, they made
their homes therein, and built their
humble temples amd the solitudcs,
worshipping God in the religion of their
fathers-desiring only to live in peace,
and, above all, at distance from their
English oppressors-tl,c hated ROOF
neks. They did not invite foreigners,
say. to come into their country; thcv
did not seek, rs cruel hypocritcs of
England have done. To iorcc their re-
llglon upon others. and to conhscatc
their property. to subject them to I'M
prlsonment, exile or death, when they,
knowing it to be false. refused TO CON
form to it. When England talks oil
blgotry, 4 sea OF innocent blood, cru
ely shed, rises up before Irish ewes.
The cruel wrongs OF centuries are re-
ncwcd.
Had England done as the Beers did,
we Irish would have 10 c;Igsc OF COM
plarnt against her But Ell 4Iishmcn,
not content with the peaceful! possession
III ti1e1T OWL country, C;l11c into ours,
and by force and treachcry combined.
with thousand viilainous artificcs,
obtained the mastery over it and us,
Let not England. or any Irish syco-
plants OF England talk of bigotry-
Engl1shmcn and their sympatl1izcrs
should be the last to speak of it. The
remembrance of 300 years OF atrocious
penal laws inflicted on this country
should place perpetual seal upon
their lips. They are lying-thesc Eng
I1shmen-ying calumniously about the
Beers now, as they have been doing
about lis since the days OF Giraldus
Cambriensis. 1t is, we know, an old
English fashion to calumniate those
they hate and would destroy; in
this they resemble the serpent, which,
before it swallows its victim, covers it
with its filthy saliva.
We Irish would not have considered
ourselves injured if the English people
had chosen to become Mohammcdans
instead of becoming hypocritical
Christians (who put their Christian
principles in their pocket when it suits
them, and never act upon them when
there is anything to be lost by doing
so), and had forbidden us Irish to enter
their country Our grievance against
them is that they entered our country
against our will, and remain in it
against our will, and persist in ruling
US against our will at the present mo-
ment, as they have been in the past.
enemies OF our rights. our happiness,
our postcrity and our liberties.
Since a few hundred Greeks faced in
the famous pass OF Thcrmopylac the
countless hosts OF the Persian despot,
the world has never witnessed a more
heroic stand for nations rights than
that being even now made in South
Africa by a handful OF lion-hcartcd
farmers against the might OF powerful
empire. II England should prove vic
torlous in this conflict il may prove the
dearest triumph she has ever won, and
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