The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-07-27
rHB BoERS AND THE Cells.

In last weeks issue the Irish Stand.
ard undertook to convince the st. Paul
Globe that the Anglo-Boe war is not
Il sufficient difficulty for England to
make an opportunity" for Ireland to
cast off the British yoke by force of
arms. O'COnnell's aphorism sounds
well, but when he uttered it some GO
years ago the population of Ireland
was double what it is today. Even
then when the young men of Ireland
were willing to grapple with the foe,
O'Connell restrained them and foolish
ly declared that liberty is not worth
the shedding Of a single drop of hui
man blood" O'Connell was a constitu-
tional agitator who was opposed to
revolution, and on question of physi-
cal force he is no authority to quote.
The phrase, "England's difficulty is
1reland's opportunity" had no signifi-
canoe coming from his lips. After de-
crying physical force and ridiculing an
appeal to arms, he was answered by
Thomas Francis Meagher in his grand
apostrophe to the sword, one of the
finest gems of patriotic e1oquence in
the English language. To the end of
his life O'Connell was man of peace
and not a man of war. He never be-
lieved with Charles Mangan that
The tribune's tongue and poets pen
May sow the seed in slavish men;
But tits the soldiers sword alone
Can reap the harvest when tits sown.
Ireland at the present time has no
military leader. The people have no
organizer like Wolfe Tone, nor any
Lord Edward Fitzgerald to lead them
successfully to battle. While that is
the case discretion is the better part
of valor." When England is embroil-
ed in European complications and is
forced to draw her troops from Ire
land, as in the Revolutionary war,
then is the opportunity" Tor the Enc
raid Isle to proclaim its independence.
If the Irish people fail to fight then
they are not worthy of freedom.
The Oregonian, of Portland, in a re-
cent issue, devoted an editorial to the
Irish, after the manner of the St. Paul
Globe, but the writer is evidently an
Anglo-SaXon of British proclivities who
does not understand the Irish peope
or their relations to England. He
tlippantly pays the Irish left-handed
compliment at the expense of the
Beers and says the transplanted Irish
man in America and his children do
not bear any great hostility to Eng
land, because "they are not of the
same quality Of brain and temper as
the Beers of the Transvaal and have
become so thoroughly naturalized that
they are first of all Americans in spir-
it." One would suppose that the more
American the Irish would become in
spirit the more intense would be their
hostility toward their hereditary foe
now engaged in the destruction of two
sister republics in South Africa. Ev-
cry genuine American in the, United
States sympathizes with the brave
Beers in their gallant struggle against
England and admires "the brain and
temper" they have exhibited during
the war. They possess the same ''brain
and temper that the American colon
lists possessed and have astonished the
world by their grit and endurance.
The Oregonian writer has no proper
conception of their noble deeds in the
preservation of self-government. He
does not know what is meant by Glib
erty or DEATH"
Toward the end Of his article the
Oregonian editor contradicts what he
said ut the beginning and refers to the
Irish in America rs "a people who still
cherish quenchless race hate for
England as an ancient oppressor, will
ing and anxious to be avenged by help
ing to destroy it's political vitality both