Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1903-1917, 1908-03-03

maintain the right to control their
own destiny and shape their own
ends; second, the geographical, in
dustrial, commercial and agricultural
conditions that make 1t possible for a
people to maintain themselves; third,
the power to so weld these conditions
that they can be made effective
against foreign interference. AS to
the first of these elements, he claimed
1t the one predominating Characters
| tic of the Irish race, the one bright
feature that stands out conspicuous in
every age since Henry the Second
| first landed ON Irish soil. 1t was this
spirit that made the Red Hugh
O'Neils and Theobald Wolf Tones and
Napier Tandys; the spirit that has
made Ireland a revolutionary nation
since her sovereign independence was
stifed; the spirit that was working
yesterday and is working to-day and
will be working tomorrow until Ire
land shall again take her place
around the table of nations. Britain's
might has been powerful to accom-
plish much for the destruction of Ire
land; it crushed her industry, her
commerce and agriculture; it wiped
out her ancient seats of learning and
made her time-honored shrines of
education memory; it did away
with her common schools and made
| ignorance the inheritance of her
peasantry; it made the Irish language
an unknown tongue in many parts of
Ireland; but never has it been able
to crush out the national spirit that
is inherent in the Irish people, that Is
the natural strain of Irish blood.
| Here the speaker paid a graceful
compliment to Captain Anthony, the
central guest of the occasion, for his
heroic rescue of John Breslin and
his fellow patriots, as well as to the
late "Catalpa Jim" Reynolds of New
Haven. 1t was Captain Anthony's
conviction of Irish nationhood, he
declared, that nerved him in his hour
of deadly peril, when the good ship
Catalpa lay within range of a British
man-ofwar from which a single shot
could have sent her to the bottom, and
impelled him to run up the American
! flag to his masthead, and, standing by
those colors, shouted in tones of de-
| fiance that recalled Paul Jones and
Saucy Jack Barry, Fire now if you
dare!"
In the second of the constituent ele-
ments of nationhood Ireland is singu-
larly blessed. With soil and climate
that respond to all the invitations of
agriculture, with running streams and
magnificent natural water courses
that offer irresistible inducements to
the wheels of industry, with commod-
ious ports of important export scat
tered along her coast, and with a
proximity to other countries and a
natural trend of production that form
basis for profitable commercial in
tercourse. Ireland has every conceiv-
able condition for country's needs.
Ever since the Anglo-Normans and
English invaded Ireland the aim of
her rulers has been to stifle her in
dustry and commerce until she has
been reduced to mere backyard of
England The speaker showed from
statistics the terrible ruin wrought in
Ireland by English misrule, saying
that from nine and quarter millions
the population has been reduced to
less than four and half millions, and
yet withal Ireland is the most over
taxed country in Europe. The condi-
tions for national maintenance are
existent in and indigenous to the
Irish soil and can only be developed
under the stimulus of free government
that is sequence of national indie
pendence.
The third element of nationhood,
the speaker said, pre-supposed
militant people. people able and
willing to cope with diplomatic differ
ences when they arise and to wage
war when these have passed beyond
the bounds of peaceful adjustment.
Whatever question there may be of
the diplomatic distinction of the Irish
race, no student of history would
question their military character.
| Open the book of wars that tells of
the military struggles OF any nation
on the face of the earth, count the
legions that have marched in serried
array whenever the red hand of battle
has waved its bloody flag. scan the
| lists of wounded and dead that scar
| the battlefields of the world, and
there on the brightest pages of martial
history, in the front rank of the bat
! fling legions and on bright honor's
! roll of soldier dead will be found men
whose names reveal their Irish origin
! and OH whose face God has stamped
! the eternal. unmistakable lineaments
of the Irish race. Wander over the
slopes and steppes of Australia. stray
| through the burning sands of Africa,
cross the dreary wastes of Asia. climb
| the mountain ranges of South Ameri-
ca. pass through the green fields of
sunny Italy and the vine clad lands
of beautiful France. take n glimpse Of
| the moors Of Spain and the table
lands of Austria. mount the giddy
heights Of Quebec. where the gallant
| Montgomery fell. scan the broad pla
teaus Of Mexico and the magnificent
areas OF America, look through the
| brakes and glens Of Scotland and over
the wide acres Of England-study
the hattlefields Of the world. lnalize
the blood that drenched them. and
| learn how many Of the eaTth's Grim
son scenes Of carnage reek with the
militant blood Of lrishmen. brave
soldiers Of fortune who cast their
I a -