The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-19


 of Savannah, Ga, Friday evening Hon. Alexander Troy of Montgomery an hon pred guest of the society responded to a toast to Ireland"
 The Savannah News yesterday morn ing said:
 Hon. Alexander Troy of Montgom- cry, Ala, was the last, but by no means least, speaker on the list. He respon- ded to the toast Ireland" Mir. Troy was particularly eloquent in his re- marks on the mother country.
 The remarks of MT. Troy were as follows:
 Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen Of the Hibernian Society:
 Before responding to the toast 10 which I have been assigned, a permht hd honne me you have done me by the invitation to attend this. the ninety-third anniyeE- sary, dinner of the Hibernian Society of Savannah and for your warm ana I feel that stand tonight upon his- toric ground. Here on this spot. where the dueenly City of Savannah sends up her countless spires to pierce the clouds and the tides of the ocean love to come and kiss the shore, some of the mighty dead of the past have lived and wrought. It was here that Tomo-chi- chi, the noble Indian Chief, with swarthy skin but royal heart. held out the hand of peace and friendship to the brave and courtly founder of your city the first soldier and gentleman Of here that the Revolutionary generals, Wayne, Lincoln and James Jackson, with their bands of patriots fought, and it was here that the noble Pulaski near there that the heroic Nathaniel | Greene lived and died and Whitney l worked out the mechanism of his mar velous gin, which revolutionized com | mel South | garden spot of the world. It was here | that Washington and Lafayette and l Jefferson Davis were welcomed and en-
 tertained as honored guests, and here | the spotless Captain of all the centur- ies, the peerless Robert E. Lee. It was
 here that Berrien, James Wayne, the | Charltons-father and son-Henry R. Jackson and Alexander R. Lawton liv- l ed and labored in behalf of their fel- ! bowman and whose persuasive elo- quence still finds responsive echo in
 the hearts of all men who admire gen l ius and merit It was from this. city there went, Ito illustrate Georgia" and
 who on the bloody field of Manassas
 sealed with his life his devotion to the
 State and the cause he loved so well,-- the Bayard of the Confederacy-the chivalric. Francis s.. Barlow. It was here the brave Hardee made his heroic | stand against the further advance of
 an Invading foe, and it was from this
 beautiful city by the sea, also went hundreds and thousands of her splen- did manhood, who, without rank or battlefield, illustrated Georgia and the South and made this proud city. proud-
 CT still to claim them as her sons: l Ton chaste and silent pillar. lone and gray" erected to their memory by the ladies of Savannah claims kindred 1 with their sacred clay. and stands the mute but graceful tribute that love and gratitude to vaIor.
 &I,t l. sx.1 hAako orN4 nd Every foot and every inch of it has
 been contended for by warning legions | ana many of the brave actors in the
 strife lie sleeping beneath it's soil. | Heroes have trod this spot-tis on
 their dust ye tread"
 Standing then as do, MT. Toastmaster, | on such historic ground it seems to me
 most appropriate that l should speak | of another land of hallowed association and therefore 1t is with pleasure that
 now respond to the toast. Ireland"
 "Yes. give me land that is blest by
 the dust
 -trodded just
 Yes, give me tile land where the bat
 ties red blast
 Has flashed to the future the fame
 of the past"
 Historic land of scholars and ora tors! Marvellous land of patriots and 1 heroes! Sacred land of saints and
 martyrs The beaNtiful island home of poetry and music, of song and story,
 of wit and humor, of chlvalry and hero-
 ism. The Niobe of Nations, persecuted
 and oppressed for centuries, yet the
 mother of great men: production of brilliant men, horrible
 beyond the language of man to de- scribe in the expressions and persecu- l tions inflicted by an alien foe. Edu- | 0af min m Q
 wither. Manufactures and industries
 destroyed that the body might suf- | fer
 kind, as think 1t is. which make men | look back with pride on the achieve | ments of the great of their race, then
 we of the Irish Race have abundant | cause to feel proud of the wonderfully gifted sons of Ireland who in field and l forum, at home and abroad, have re- | flected lustre on the human race and | brightened the history of every civiliz- ed country.
 year 432. when the great saint, whose anniversary we celebrate tonight was sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine as
 missionary. 1t was the land of petty | tribes of fierce barbarians and that he dealt so gently with them, that with no weapon but the olive branch, he broke up and forever destroyed the power of the cruel and ferocious na-
  | bloody laws and planted the Cross so deeply in the virgin soil of Ireland, that | 1t was known throughout the civilized world as the Island of Saints" The precept and example of this truly great | man. who brought peace to warning l clans and love to vindictive enemies, | on these pagan warriors and marauders was miraculous, "and a hallowing race" says the eloquent Alpheus Baker, de | scends from Heaven upon that land to l expel forever from 1t every poisonous l influence and to inspire those vir
 tues which have made its manhood the synonym of valor, generosity and | genius as is its womanhood of truth, | tenderness and purity"
 | Ireland became, and so continued for | centuries, the home of piety and learn | ing. She had celebrated schools in which were taught the arts and scien- | ces. Her scholars went into every
 country to teach and civilige. while
 Britain was steeped in barbarism. centuries especially" as we are told by Stoddard, this farthest boundary of | the Continent held aloft and kept aflame the torch of Christian faith and glittered like a star upon the dark | horizon of the western world" It was while Ireland was keeping alive the faith and enjoying a civili- zation unequalled in It's splendor. that | the piratical Danes sent their maraud- | and frlghtful in conseuences against her. For over two hundred years the bitter contest between intelligence and civilization on the one hand, and ig- norance and barbarism on the other, was waged, until at last the brave Brian Boru expelled the invades from the country. Then in 1166 came Henry nf Tna xxyhn drnN ha "a