The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-06-22

he hurled back the veterans of Water
loo at New Orleans, Stewart, the I'm
cestor Of Charles Stewart Parnell, Nc
Donough, the hero of Lake Champlain,
and their work in that fight for the
life of the nation furnished the bright
est page in the history of the struggle
that made us free.
'The browning achievements Of the
Celt illumine the Civil war. In that
fratricidal conflict the Irish soldier
was the most omnipresent of all partic-
ipants He furnished 81 per cent of the
whole federal army; his loyalty was
vouched for by the South in it's tribute
to Cleburne; by the North, in it's praise
of Shields and Kearney; he was in
command at Gettysburg, when Meade
hurled back the tide Of rebellion; his
impetuous courage saved the day in
the Shenandoah, when Sheridan's
Turn, boys, we are going back! rang
the death knell of Early's hopes; his
capacity was vouched for by Grant,
who said: Sheridan could maneuyer
the largest army Europe boasts He
was at his best when the charge of
the six hundred was outdone at Fred
ericksburg, in the charge up the sleeps
of st. Mary's Heights, by Meagher and
his Irish brigade, who left 1000 out Of
200 dead on the field. The grandest
thing in the whole war; cried General
.aongstreet.
Brighter record than this hath no
nation, but its brightness was equaled
in '9S When the five of Hobson's small
band Of seven were Celts, when 'Bilp
Anthony's cool words: 4 must report,
sir, that the ship has been blown up
and is now sinking sent a thrill of ad-
miration from Maine to California;
when our Emmett guards, by their
prompt volunteering, recalled the ever
green memory of other Worcester boys
of Captain O'Neil, as he died with the
words of Hale, I am only sorry that
| have but one life to give for my
country and the heroic deeds and
death of McConville and Daley.
"Show me any legislative hall, any
position of honor in American political
life, and will point to Celtic names
which have shed luster upon it. Do
you mention the presidency? The Celt
furnished Jackson, Taylor, Polk, Buch.
anan, Johnson, Arthur, Cleveland and
Mckinley.
"Do you refer to congress or legis-
lative halls? From the days when
Patrick Henry thrilled Virginia, to the
ringing words of Burke Cochran in
defense of the Boer in more recent
days, deliberate assemblies i'll America
have echoed to the music of Celtic
oratory. Do you recall the Supreme
court? Whose names are brighter
than those Of Rutledge of Revolution
airy days, fancy, the incorruptible Of
81, and Mckenna in the present body /?
The list could be made interminable,
but what need to mention men of
minor note?
'The words of Andrew Fletcher: Il
care not who makes your laws, if 1
may but sing your songs lead us
from the consideration of the public
life to the literary glory of the Celt:
II one thing has been more noticeable
than another in American literature,
it has been the lack of purely original
work, and here America is saved from
the charge of absolute sterility by Ed
gar Allan Poe of Celtic parentage. It
was he who established the school of
the mystical novel and the short story.
Upon the lines laid down by him have
been built the literary reputation of
Hawthorne, Conan Doyle, Bret Harte
and other lesser lights.
'"To say nothing of such poets as
O'Brien, Carpenter and Joyce, Ireland
furnished to the South her greatest
poet, Father Ryan, and to America the
poet who, above all poets, express
American ideals and enshrines in i'm
mortal verse the highest aspirations of
the true American heart-John Boyle
O'Reilly. Who gives better epitome
Of the Declaration of Independence
On their great lines we base our social
health
The man,-the home,-the town.
the commonwealth!
"Who more unerringly than he dis
covers the true source of greatness in
America
Earth's for the people, their laws their
own,
An equal right for all.
"Who displays more foresight than
he pointing to the true policy Of ex-
pansion Of American IDEALS
From base to cresting let the work be
new,
Twas not by aping foreign ways it
grew.
To struggling peoples give at least ap.