The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-01-28

it crime punishable by fine. Imprisonment or
death. to teach the Catholic Irish to read write,
the Catholic child to be educated had to be Snug
ged to the continent for there place in Ire
land where he could legally receive even the crud-
est elements of learning Remember this: these
atrocous laws for the degradation of kith and
kin not repealed till 1880. Only a quarter of
century before Russia emancipated her white
serfs and thirty three years before America freed
the black slave did "enlightened" England emauci
pate the Catholic Irish and give him the legal right
of bare existence i'll his own country.
Why did England fail in her efforts to destroy
faith and nationality in Ireland!
Every generation of Irishmen has produced its
quota of devoted ones who have been barbarortsly
called rebels and fclons; enthusiasts and cxtrem-
lists; martyrs and heroes, according to ones view
point vino believing that the "old land was worth
fighting for and dying for, kept up the struggle for
a distinct national existence. Their teachings pre-
served the old traditions and history of people
kept alive the love of liberty. Their prosecutions,
sutferings, imprisonment and often death in the
service of the holy cause were object lessons for
the younger generation and so the good fight went
on. We have read somewhere the following
anecdote as an example of English wit
Teacher-What is meant b. the conquest of Ire
land!
Pupil-It is a process begun in the Twelfth
century and which is still going on
This must be revised, corrected and
brought up to date The English" conquest of
Ireland has come to end, and the successful
conquest of the country by the Irish and for the
Irish has been going on for the past twenty-five
ode Irnlo vbp1I1 hos
the best of the fight Thanks to recent legislation,
after another twenty-five years the people will
once again the soil of their native land although
the land question is not definitely settled, it is in
such fair way OF settlement that our people have
leisure to devote some time to the satisfaction of
other national aspirations. England had bound the
Irish tongue as a something foul and mean. What
more poetic vengeance could be wreaked on the
oppTessor than to renstate it in all its pristine
glory the language of the people. The effort to
spread the knowledge of the Gaelic is meeting with
wonderful success-and in another generation the
wild unsaxon tongue will be again the national
language.
In America determined and we'll directed eff
fort is being made to encourage the study of Irish
history and literature. The Irish-American His
torlcal society counts in its membership some of
the leading of the United States in all the
ranks of life. Literature. sciences the arts. the
army, the navy, commerce and finance.
The ancient order of Hibernians the rcprcsen-
tative Irish organization the world over" 1t be-
gan its good work by founding and endowng, at
the Catholic university chair for the study of
the Gaelic. Now it is following this up by en-
deavorng to have Irish history included in the pro-
CRANE of studies of all parochial schools which
number among the pupils a fair percentage of
Irish children. The movement is but in its III
fancy, yet it has already accomplished great
deal Numbers of us believe that for an Irish child
the best Introductory primer to the history of Eng
land is short history of Ireland In fact. we
believe that thorough knowledge of Irish history
will give the Irish child all he needs-or will care
to know of English history. incidentally we will
express the belief that a study of the Irish penal
laws has made rebels lin spirit if not in faet)
than all appeals to sentiment could have done
We believe that this Irish educational move
mont will rebound to the benefit of the Church in
America. The fight against England had dual
purpose. The preservation of Catholicty in Ire
land and the conquest of political freedom so init
mate has been the union of this double purpose that
1t Is impossible to establish a dividing line. and
who can study Irish history without recognizing
the great debt of gratitude owe to the Catholic
Church and the native clergy for the preservation
of our nationality! Who will not feel proud of
the magnificent struggle and proud that in his /
veins flows the blood of the heroes and the con-
Jurors of this warfare of centuries-yesl let us
educate the child and youth so as to make him
truly Catholic and truly Irish and we will raise
generation of men proud of their creed-proud of
their race men who not be fooled-caioled.
bought or inundated into being anything else than
Catholic Irish-Amcrcans-and thus |
it should be.
HER FIRST RAILROAD RIDE