The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-09-21
The Granting of Autonomy to Ireland is
Not Calculated to Make
Hostile Nation.
Today the Spirit of Liberty is Coursing
Through the Veins Of the
People of Erin.

that Ireland is for the Irish instead of,
as the poet says:
''Serfs in our own land,
Proud masters, tell us why?"
Or as another poet says:
"The land that 1 fly from is fertile
and fair,
And more than I ask for, or wish for,
is there;
But must not taste the good things
that see
There's nothing but. rags and green
rushes for me-"
This is the cry of Ireland's sons and
daughters today as they leave the
shores of their native land to 20 to
alien countries, and it has been the
cry Of millions who have left all
through the past century-left father,
mother, sister, brother, the green fields
and hillsides where they have so often
played in their childhood in blissful
ignorance of the brutal tyranny of the
Saxon government, which would,
when they came to manhood and
womanhood, compel them to seek the
sustenance necessary to support life
in lands thousands Of miles away from
all that the heart holds dear. God
help them in their struggles in for
eign lands! have seen them landing
in America in their thousands, and
have prayed that it might be in my
power to alleviate the poignant an
guish which these young men and
women have to endure in their strug-
gle for existence.
Ireland has been, and is at the pres
ent moment, one of the worst gov
erned and most neglected countries in
the world. Not one Of our colonies
would tamely submit for single day
to the treatment which ireland re-
ceives, and the sooner the English
government settles the Irish question,
the better it will be for the British
empire. 1t is being dinned into our
ears by the Tories that the Irish are
a disloyal people, but when we con-
slider that during the reign of Queen
Victoria over 100000 of the Irish
race either died of famine, emigrated,
or were evicted from their holdings,
can we marvel that the Irish feel bit
terly towards England, Which still re-
lies, after period of 100 years, to
maintain its ascendancy by brute
force, and denies to the Irish people
the right to govern themselves? Eng
land has given the Irish people abun-
dant reason for hating her, and were
l in Ireland would undoubtedly be a
rebel. No country in the world has
been worse treated than Ireland, and
Irishmen would be disloyal to them
selves to pretend that they had any
degree of good feeling towards Eng
land, and until England gives Irish
men reasons for entertaining different
feelings this hatred will be maintained.
During the progress Of the Boer war
we have been told by the English
press that one of the most gratifying
features Of the campaign was the 10y
atty of the colonies; but it is very easy
to obtain loyalty at shillings day.
Even French loyalty, with all it's in
tense hatred of England, could have
been bought much cheaper than this.
For considerable time the British
idea of greatness has been the paint
ing of as much as possible of the map
imperiaistic red. At the present mo,
ment we are living in state Of moral
degradation and political damnation.
We are supporting system that un-
dermined the power Of imperial Rome.
and that has in turn brought every
empire, however great, to the dust.
When the madness of the moment has
passed, then will be our opportunity
to strive to attain to the true ideal
of greatness-a greatness which con-
sists not in immense possessions, but
in the justice of our laws and the
extent of our liberties. We ought to
be great nation in science, art and
industry, and not as a fighting ma.
chine to oppress the weak; and, above
all, we ought to be great to the extent