The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1902-01-18

1T, and to institute new government,
laying it's foundation OH such prin-
ciples and organizing It's powers in
such form as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their safety and happi-
ness"
When our fathers laid that corner
stone for the state, they meant to
make for the nations Of the earth,
without distinction of race or rank, n
city of refuge-"a city that hath foun-
dations. whose builder and maker is
God"
! want to talk chiefly of the contri-
button Of one race to our mighty
alchemy. should get very quickly
and very far beyond my depth if
were to undertake to trace the race
which is known as Celtic to its origin
in the heart of Asia. But it has EN-
tered into many great nations. 1t has
kept it's quality wonderfully wher-
ever you find IT, in whatever national
l'lifc It hrs mingled. The Irishman in
Ireland is by common consent the pur-
est example of it in existence today.
The word "Celt" is said by some au-
thors to mean warrior" BY others
it is said to mean "wOOdsman" or
"dweller In the woods" The Celt has
entered, ns | just said, into many
great nations. Wherever he goes he
takes Ills quality with him. He Is
always the mint in the julep.
II is a singular fact, but l believe
now everywhere accepted by our sta
tisticnns and ctllnologists, that the
composition of this country MS found
by the last census, leaving out the
negro, is made up OF just about the
same racial elements, in just about
the same proportion, that made up
England in the time of Elizabeth,
when she began her career of empire
and glory.
Ireland has kept, under the Provi-
dcncc of God. the pure Celtic leaven
to be mingled with our mass also.
The Cclt has come here He is here
to abide. We could not help it If we
would And !, for one, would not help
it If could.
or fhc twcnty-six presidents Of the
United States, fifteen were Of English
origin, an origin which has this great
admixturc of the Celtic in it. In one
the Welshman, in two the Dutchmun,
in three the Scotsman, ana in five the
Scotch-Irslman is predominant.
The Cclts seem everywhere. to n
superficial view to be a losing race.
But everywhere in tho quality they i'm.
part, they have conquered their con-
qucrors Among all the great races,
none was ever more distinguished for
valor, for profound religious feeling,
for acute scnsbility, for humor and
tender sympathy They have been
wonderful fighters, from Charlemagne
down to Wellington and Montgomery
and Andrew Jackson and Phil Sheri-
dan. They have been wonderful ora
tors, as witness Burke and Sheridan
and Grattan and Curran and Plunkett
They have always made brave and
long and sullcn resistance when they
were overcome by superior force.
They never would stay whipped
They preserved, under adversely and
under the heel of oppression, for cen
turtles long, their sublime and uncon-
qucrablc discomfort. They always
had the same pcrtinacity that the RI
Spaniards imputed to us in the late
war. Instead of retiring when they
We're beaten, as any gentleman should,
they kept straight on.
There is one thing in which the Celt
has shown, in his purest existing type,
the modern Irislman, that he has no
superior in history. Everywhere the
great virtues, the cornerstone virtues
of the state, of all human society, are
the great loves-lOve of country, love
of woman, love of home. Was there
ever an example Of these like that
given to mankind of the poor Irish
immigrant of half century ago?
There were ten or eleven years in