The Irish standard., 1901-03-09


Of the hour, and dared proclaim the
truth, We're characterized as tiendish
and scurrilous.
Governments are superior to the in
dividual, they are supposed to be ac-
tuated by nobler motives, to be less
influenced by sinister ones. Ii you
condemn the individual for speaking
truthfutly in the presence of royal
death, what will you say Of the gov
ernment that not satisfied with the
death OF its victim, desecrates the
body and beheads a corpse? When
they point to the bier Of Victoria,
we point to the head Of Robert Emmett.
1t is just and proper, at time when
many are struggling for the supremacy
OF tears, and fulsome praise bids fair
to cloud the impartial mind Of the
passing observer, that the friends Of
Ireland should cast among the funeral
wreaths few pages of history,
CLEANED from the reign of Victoria,
as we'll as that of some others who
have not been the beneticiares of so
MANY annual budgets.
Among the many attributes general
ly accorded to the Irish race none is
more in evidence than that OF graft
tude. Tonight YOU lett your homes to
assemble here, as you have done on
each fourth Of March, to show the
gratitude you feel for the noble sacri-
lice of Robert Emmett, and to pledge
tallZed by his death. 10 frateruiZc
with the government that murdered
him would be either rank hypocrisy
OF base ingratitude upon our part.
We did not ;lss;ll; not till silence
might be construed into approval, not
till aputhcoSis had challenged truth
and history and attempted to render
impotent the teachings of our martyrs
did we follow falsehoous into the
house Of death.
lie cause Ut Emmett is sacred to us
at all times, in all places, and under
all circumstances. But upon this AN
niverS;lry, ut the threshold Of Il new
century and IL new reign, we may we'll
consider how we may best advance
that cause. Each year II new genera
ton is bluSsumlng into age and wheth-
er OF Irish extraction OF dating back
to ancestral fields of the American
Revolution it secs in the school history
OF today little that reflects the strong
light vi the past. In the light OF the
gushing sentiment Of Il great part or
the press OF tins country during the
past TWO years, the young American
must feel like apoluyiziny for the rude
ness Of the American colonists who
unlawlully assembled at Lexington,
Concuid and Bunker Hill.
I;ul no doubt Tire spirit OF conciiia-
ton will yet prompt that these names
50 odious to English pride be changed
to the more amlable ones Of Guelph
vilir, Wcttindale, and Mount Edward.
IT is Il good thing not to die too
soon. By his untimcy taking oil
General Grant did not live long
enough to realize that Queen Victoria
saved the Union, and the Prince o1
Wales, through his friendship for
American Jockeys, drew Ills breath ANA
held back the powers that threatened
to and Spain in wipinS us of the map.
but, in the words OF the pUGt-'lIest
we luryct'--il might be we'll to trace
Il few of the fuutprlnls OF English war
fare.
In the seventeenth century we have
the violated treaty Of Limerick, lOl-
lowed by English laws which made
education in ireland Il crime, put Il
pllcc upon the head OF the priest, set
father against son. DrothcraS;linst butli,
and used the livery OF heaven to do the
work OF he'll by tanning the lire vi re
lgluuS hatred. The penal laws OF Ire
land, like many other plans Oh Eng
land, only intensified the feelings they
sought to stille, and the faith which
England tried to lcgislate out OF OK
istencc was only burned the deeper
into tic souls of It's devoted adhrrents.
In The eighteenth century the Eng
fish government in the trial OF VIII
liam Orr, invaded the jury room with
threats, and with Intoxicating liquors
fired the minds of its pnrtls;lns untll
members of the jury were threatened
with violence and linancial ruin II they
did not bring in Il verdict OF guilty.
The Judge in pronouncing sentence
wrpt, the main witness made atllaaN!t
that his testimony was false, and re-
morse drove him to insanity and sui
eide Some of the jury swore they
signed the verdict after they had been
made drunk by the government 5
agents, and two swore they We're COM
PEELED by threats of personal violence
to- sign the verdict; but the government
demanded blood, human life, and
William Orr was hanged, not because
he had violated any law, but because
he loved ireland. Nine months from
that very day two brothers, Henry AMI
John She:lrcs, stood upon the scattolti
and suffered the same fate for the
same cause.