The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-20

author places much reliance on the great author, De Roo" mentioned in this paragraph. Among the more In teresting features of MT. Dwyer's elao- crate treatment of the question are the following statements:
 We have. indeed, presented super abundant proof of Christia Alty's exist ence in Central America shortly before the eleventh century. but no nation whatever. save the Irish. who at the time had colonies in MeXico's neigh borhood, can be. thought of as having sent forth saintly priests who planted and watered Christianity there"
 "As you may suppose. all these maps placed St Brendan's Land in many different places out in the Atlantic, west. northwest or southwest of Ire land; sometimes 1t Is continent, again 1t Is an island. sometimes. too. near. often far.
 Sometimes 1t was called the Land of the Blessed, and again. the Land of Promise-how prophetic!
 "Ferdinand St. Denise, quoted by Montelambert. tells us that Columbus himself, before his discovery. wrote "The Land of St. Brendan Is the Land of the Blessed toward the west. which no one can reach except by the power of God
 Proofs of Irish Settlement.
 "But those who have read on this subject need not be told of the many Irish croziers, bells and books that were found in Iceland by the first col ony of Norsemen. as recorded by their own historians. nor of the bloody pro- uensity of those fierce and savage vi- kings of old. which caused the peaceful Christian Irish settlers 10 leave such relics behind them. or led to the slaughter of their followers in cold blood.
 we have stronger testimony of early Irish settlement on this continent than we have of any historical incl dents that are unduestloned The tes- timony Is complete and various. It Is even stronger as before remarked than the Jeff Ericson account. be- cause 1t Is contained not alone in the works containing the Ericsson account hut is corroborated bv more ancient documents found in Ireland; and ir scores of documents written Tn old Latin on the continent of Europe; by numerous ancient charts and by evi- dences of Celtic civilization on the part of our country. which was directly col | nnized by the Irish, the traces of un' doubted Celtic speech and Knowledge of Ossan's poems among Indians oi Florida, cited by Lord Mundboddo, the Scotch nobleman and many others. thf many crosses found within the sphere
  among the Mexicans of the white chiei l from the land across the ocean. who | introduced religion. arts and sciences | among them. ages before; the many ev' | idences of Christian doctrine still smol- dering in carly spanish days, from the wreck of time. Celtic sepulchra
 mounds. Celtic lapidary inscriptions such as that found at Grave Greek Mound. Marshall county, Virginia, 1T | 1899, which the learned Schoolcraf | (American), and Rain CDanc). assure ! us is Irish and must have been done ] before the tenth century; that ls' De { fore the year 90l A. D.
 ExuInins Lack of Knowledge. 1 Tn explanation of the general lack | of knowledge of this continent at the | time of Columbus. we might sugges' ! the spirit which actuated the Phoeni' i clans, who were undoubtedly the an 1 cestors of the Milesian Irish. whicf ] was to keep secret their discoverle: ] of new lands So well did the Phoeni' ' clans act on this prudential principle . that it is mentioned by Strabo, Poly | blus and Pliny. and Quintus Curtius de 1 scribes them as colonizing lands un ! known to all other nations.
 But we find that the very people ! who would be their worst enemies or
 this continent become aware or thu
 Irish colonies here and we may be al
 lowed to beli,N" their assertions tha { the Morse advent OH our coasts was ac
 cidental through stress of storm. fo
 such is the record in the Sagas; an'
 while the Irish discovery was due t'
 navigation m the interest of Christian
 Moreover, the national traits of tn
 two people al that time are picture'
 in the ancient documents and referred
 to bv the learned commentators O modern times The Morse ambition wa
 to exploit the natives in the fur trade and they never hesitated to slaughte the redmen, while the Irish, by common