The sun., 1903-04-01
THE IRISH AND M'FADDEN'S
FLATS.

those published In this mornings euluon
Of THK suS. This privilege ] seek inas-
much as I consider myself fnifly entitled
to speak not only as an Irtshman here In
America, but to some extent for the Irish
at home.
And first, I may remark that this protest
OF the Irish people against the degrading
Of themselves and their race on the stage 10
not mushroom growth OF to-day or yester-
day. At home In Ireland this movement
has long since matured. and there the people
have already driven from the public stage
the disgusting and degrading caricatures
imported from England and elsewhere: and
the movement OF the Irish here is but the
continuation and spreading OF that movemene
TO end once for all what they consider o grave
I'M justice. And let there be no mistake about
IL. this new Gaelic regeneration. as 1t may be
called, has come to stay. both here and In
Ireland In Ireland the movement has be-
come an irresistible force and Is acco nplish-
ing facts beyond the most ardent hopes OF Its
well. wishers. Even England has been forced
to recognize this and the building OF the
Lord Lieutenant's yacht In Dublin and Its
being christened with the name OF an old
Irish queen, printed In Irish characters. Is
but one OF many proofs Of the power OF the
new Gaelic movement. IL may have been
true that in past times the comparative ig-
norance Of some Of the poorer Irish was not
an unnatural subject for merriment. IL
Ougnt not, however, W DS lOI k"seSh that 'has
ignorance had been forced upon the Irish
In by gone years because Of their adherence
to their faith and because their cruel op-
pressors hoped that by destroying the Gaelic
language and education OF the Irish they
would thereby lose their aspirations. their
patriotism and perhaps their religion. But
this was an idle hope and to say there Is In
Ireland a revival OF the old Gaelic tongue.
Gaelic music and customs. such as has been,
Is q cruel surprise 70 those who faneied they
a redi snifylns Of the race after that long term
q snioIssd degradaton imposed upon them r.
stay. and the Kidding the stage Of vile soanS anS
tcn Of The psope o Ireland despite the
harassing restraints It suffered from. hss
that even the irish national school system
the public school system here from the purely
leading Article IL SUNDAYS SYN dealt
with the Irish protest; The drift Of its aLsu-
lures were once done away with, those OF
other nationalities might have 70 follow suit
and to whs Do With irish raSe does sass
an argument affect them9 Are they TO suffer
what they consider grave Injustice because use
but then again the srS's argument con-
91@s f9oS The stsndpont that I'll the nationaties
are similarly caricstured. This no Irishman
fer to The b r.re sne
never seen In or out OF Ireland. l have lived
there over. thirty, years OF my life. and have
have never seem anythlns tS Justify, i III tss
least the gross smisrepresentstions OF "NcFad-
'ea And now @ let me put put fair argument to your
can people lin the person Of Uncle sam or
OIL ondon. Berln. Paris or Dublin, represented
as possessinF a tlthy,, vIlsar FACE large:
character were constantly held up as the
typical American; would not all decent. self
respecting Amoficans r protest v,fEorGMnhsyy; E MhIy;
more forcibly than do the Irish against their
that r'i il Tsssf need be the AmsTican Ambassador
would consider it his duty to prevent in.
sE arc irish hpSe and o WomeS to g. denied
oppressiop has deprived them p foreiss
Ambassador OF their own in this country
II so. then 1t is a sad reflection upon American
Or again. suppose an American In France.
Germany or England resents an insult to the
nag Of his country and thereby to the country
itself and n doing so even strikes down ne
mire HIS action and defend him. And what
law, J. ask, prevents an lrishman from resent
TO his fellow countrymen and to his country.
espacially,whe the sc insults are OF arepulsive,
0PKrn0lnQ CnaTacteTg In suCn LnhtteTs IL
there one law for an American and different
one for an Irishmans
II is, argued by some that in protesting
irish ns 'is people u then no rights, Have they not
Which WI these unjust carcatures srayely violst.
and which no theatreeoer or actor should
Ss e 6sy. ,.s. S hod d Ss Ss eat Of
the irish people to uphold and defend their
public character is a prior and more formid-
One Of the strongest arguments for this
protest Of self-respecting lrishmen Is fur.
Flats" who claim to have lrish blood--though
they probably never, saw Ireland IN their
life-and yet see nothing repulsive IN their
that even Irish Americans can believe this
cnricaturine true then surely the time is
Ireland TO end this caricaturing which can
lead even those OF Irish descent into such
ignorance Of Irish life. -
Cumberland. ] will venture To answer that
he ray have, TO wait until himself and those
and rhivalry enough to cease patroni,ing
such repulsive caricaturing. which, they must
know. are gross and unjust libels on the Irish
:, In conclusion let me again remark that
there is going on at home and abroad new
liftins, a diRnifyine and strengthening Of
the Irish people after centuries Of enforced
PRESTON Of unjust lbeiline Is but a necessary,
though an unpleasant and dif,cult part Of
Ss, o ssdrces
men for American INDEPENDENCE. that right
to that regeneration were to be denied ish-
men in free America. j. l.. NJ.
To THE EDITOR OF THE srS-Sr: The
missiled storm OF Indignation that was hurled
at McFadden and his fats at a New York
theatre a few evenings ago was. / think.
an III hammered way to resent fancied staged
insult to Ireland and particularly SO as re-