The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-03-25
we shed,
AS the night-dew that falls on the
grass DER his head.''

AS the night-dew that falls on the
grass DER his head"
But in the virile language of John
Boyle O'Reilly, l bid you
Tear down the Grape from the col
umn. Let the shaft stand white
and fair!
Be silent the wailing music, there is no
death in the air!
Come hither with glowing faces. the
sire, the youth and the child,
This grave is shrine for reverent
hearts and hands that are unde-
filed:
Its ashes are inspiration it giveth us
strength to bear
1t sweepeth away dissensions, and
nerveth the will to dare
For centuries the Irish in Ireland
have been kept by English law an I'M
armed people. England knows they
make fairly good soldiers, and is will
ing to trust them anywhere except at
home. 1t was until recently the law,
and l suppose it is still, that no man
can keep arms Of any sort in Ireland
except by license from his majesty's
justices in session. When licensed the
piece is branded and registered, and
cannot be transferred sold or inherited
except through a new registry. Black
smiths must also be similarly licensed.
They might make a mistake and beat,
not the sword into the ploughshare but
the plou%hslare into a pike. 10 have
possession Of pike means transporta-
tion. John Mitchell has found Il prece-
dent for all this in sacred history. The
lSraeliteS were forty years under the
dominion of the Philistines. and we
read in l. Sam. 1919.
Now, there was no smith found
throughout all the land of Israel; for
the philistines had taken this precau-
ton lest the Hebrews make them
swords and SPEARS
The difference between the Philis-
tines of old and the Phiistines Of Eng
land is that they of later days are
meaner and are not satisfied with
twenty times forty years of oppres-
sion of an unoffcnding and unarmed
people.
In 1913. Daniel O'Connell, then at
the zenith Of his fame. conceived the
idea that by arraying the moral pow
ers of the whole nation he could COM
pei the repeal of the act of Union. He
held monster gatherings of the I'M
armed people in every province, to pc
tition the parliament at Westminster.
At lowest estimate the attendance of
each ranged from $4,000 to 100000
men. AS forty-two of these meetings
were held it appears that from three
to four million Of Irishmen thus de-
of the parliament a repeal Of
the union. The people came with all
the majesty, solidity and silent power
of the waves of a mighty ocean. They
broke upon the first rocks raised in
their path.
The forty-third meeting was called
for Clontarf's battlefield near Dublin,
but proclamation from Dublin Castle
dispersed it, and the O'Connell demand
by peaceful petition for separation
from England proved but dream. He
went to Jail. was tried before packed
jury and convicted that sentence to
be reversed by the House of Lords.
But O'Connell's great heart was broll-
en-. the repeal agitation practically
ended. 1t was followed by the black
night of famine in 1SlG-47-4S. when
ireland lost two million of her popula-
ton by famine, fever and exile. And
says John Mitchell, in each of these
years Ireland's exports of food shipped
to England amounted to f15,0OO,0O0,
and she had on her own soil at each
harvest ample provision for double her
Notwithstanding the potato
blight. An Indictment which in it's
simple statement is sufficient to con-
denim the English government to the
eXecration of humanity forever.
Whatever may be said Of the wisdom
of O'Connell's repeal agitation it con-
clusively proves two things. First,
that up to the middle of the nineteenth
century the Irish people utterly loathed
their political union with England.
Second, the futility of any appeal to
England's sense of justice upon the
subject. Home rule may be granted
the land may in process Of time be
restored to the people, many local
wrongs may be corrected, but only
when Ireland can speak from the can
mons mouth will the infamous act Of
union be repealed or abrogatcd.
John Mitchell and William Smith
O'Brien, Protestant gentlemen both, I'M
derstood this we'll, while as leaders Of
the young Ireland party Of that day
they watched impatiently the rise and
ebb Of O'Connell's great living tide.
And at last when the end came the
younger men We're preaching the gos-
pei Of the pike. Who can blame them?
None can question their courage Who