The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-03-28

VINO suffers for moment for faith or
principle lives in history. Who can
write the story OF the martyrdom of
whole people suffering through ages?
"But at last-praise be to providence
the spirit of the martyrs is rising in
triumph over the masters of the flesh.
To-day it is not the Irish people who
are down upon their knees crying for
mercy, or even for justice 1t is the
hitherto proud and powerful so-called
conquerer who now begs the oppor-
tunity and seeks the method of maxi
ing restitution. of repairing the wrong,
of correcting the errors Of the past.
'The so-called conqueror has found
that he is not conqueror at all, but the
victim Of his own lust and blunders.
1t has required half thousand years
for him to learn the lesson that to
take country-to take the lands,
the government, the courts, the po-
lice, the revenues, the sources Of
power and authority-is of no avail un-
less you take the hearts Of the people
too. who steals my purse steals
trash England took all the trash she
could lay her hands upon-everything
in sight and held to it with grim
hnd stubborn determination through
out the centuries.
''Now she is awakening to realiza-
ton of the fact that it is only trash,
after all. At last she realizes that
while she has been feeding upon the
husks Of conquest and confiscation,
the very kernel of Ireland-the heart,
the friendship, the confidence, the 10y
atty of the Irish people-she has not
got at all. She has taken the purse
and the old clothes and everything ly-
ing around lo0se-but she has missed
the pearl of great price, the one rare
Jewel.
$50 at last in the fullness of time it
has come to this: England realizes
that she has been on the wrong course
She realizes that her methods have
been failure. She realizes that her
whole policy as to Ireland has been
not only crime, but that thing which
is worse than crime-a blunder.
''It is not a sore or quickened con-
science that moves England to a new
Irish policy; it is not contrite de-
sire to eXpiate the sins of the fathers.
1t is not primarily for Ireland's sake
that the British craftsmanship now
seeks to make new Ireland, but for
the sake of the British Empire. And
here is the key to the faith which I
feel is the outcome.
'"To do justice to the leaders Of Eng
lsh policies of the present day, they
indulge in no hypocrisy. Whatever
else the British publicist may be, he
is not a hypocrite. l did not find men,
bers Of the present government, who
are planning new Ireland, trying to
deceive themselves or anyone else
with any mawkish sentimentality
about wishing to uplift Ireland for Ire
lands sake. To the contrary, they
frankly confess their aim is the
Strengthening of the empire and moth
ing else.
"Why Great Britain has made an
exception of Ireland, why the home of
free government has kept there tyr
amy. why the mother Of parliaments
has denied parliament to Ireland.
why the champion of free speech has
denied free speech to the people across
st. Georges Channel, why the foun-
tain head of the worlds free press has
tried to shackle the press Of Ireland
all this is long story, involving the
very roots of British chara cter-in-
, ability to change when started wrong,
the stubbornness and passion that
come of opposition. the intrcnchment
of privilege. / cannot go into that
say only that greatly as one may ad'
: mire the English colonial and govern
mental system everywhere else in the
: world, as earnestly must one deplore
: as crime and a blunder the long
: postponement of the regeneration Of
Ireland.