Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-19
Z
IRISH PARuAMENTS
Their Rise and Fall and How
Accomplished.
UBIQUITOUS ENGLISH LAWS
They Were Designed to Exterminate
the Irish Race.
EVEN PERMITTED MURDER
waged War Upon catholics-Act of
Union Brought About by
"ashameless Corruption.
EVEN PERMITTED MURDER
BY WILLIAM +. CURTIS.

.--- BY WILLIAM +. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald
The people of Ireland already have
home rule. except that the British parlia-
ment makes their laws. the police are ap-
pointed and controlled in London and the
judges of the upper courts are selected
by the crown. They demand the right
and privilege of doing these things them
selves and are determined to have par
lament. They seem to have forgotten
that they had one up to a hundred years
ago.
Six hundred years before the Christian
era Ollaha Fodlha. King of Ireland. or
ganized the Feis Feamhrach. which met
every third year at Tara and was COM
posed of the chiefs of clans. druids and
bards. It was very much like the mod
ern house of lords. The ordinary gentry
and the working classes had no repre-
sentation. The proceedings and acts were
recorded in volumes known as the
'Psalter of Tara
This parliament lasted for about twelve
hundred years. 1t was abolished AID.
$50. and Ireland had no legislative assem-
bly, from that time until the barons were
called together at the Carmelite Convent
bA DuuAu 1870 A1dHy VI tHciu udIcO
not leave their castles or trust them
selves to the hazard of journey without
large armed retinue. Their feuds were
so bitter that many duels were fought
and their retainers stabbed one another
on the streets and in the courtyard of
Dublin Castle.
Irish Had One Law, English Another
There was a notable parliament in 1888.
in the reign Of Edward III. which enacted
one set of laws for the English and an
other set for the Irish. An Irishman had
NO redress for injuries by an English
man. He could not seek the protection
of the English law, which gave the mag
istrates no power to puni-h an English
man for an injury to an Irishman, but on
the other hand an Irishman, who injured
an Englishman in any manner was
promptly tried and severely punished If
the charges were proved against him.
These laws were intended not so much to
Cypress the Irish as to encourage the
migration Of Englishmen to Ireland. The
leading families of Ireland several times
petitioned Edward 1 and Edward III to
place them under the English law, but the
selfish English barons persuaded their
sovereign not to do SO on the pretext that
It would prevent Englshmen from settling
in Ireland and building up that country.
Marriage and Trade High Treason.
In 1851 Edward III summoned a parlia-
ment which enacted what is Familiarity
known as 1.-The statute Of Kilkenny" 1t
can be found In the law books under the
title Of Forty, Edward Ill, Irish Stat
sutes.' 1t Is an extraordinary enactment.
and accounts for a great deal of the
trouble that came afterward. According
to this law, intermarriage and traffic Of
every kind between the English and Irish
were forbidden as high treason. 1t pro-
hibits the sale OF horses, boats or weap-
ons Of any sort to the Irish. 1t pro-
hfbits the use of Irish fabrics or the prod
ucts Of Irish industries. or the weaving
of the native Irish dress. the use of the
Irish language, and the practice of any
Irish custom under penalty Of confscation
of property and Imprisonment. The Irish
were forbidden to use their own language.
and were commanded to use the English
language, which they did not know. No
Irish child could attend school: Irish edu-
cation was forbidden. No Irishman could
become clergyman; no Irishman could
be received into any monastery or other
religious house. 1t was forbidden to sup
port or entertain Irish bards, pipers Or
story tellers. because they were suspected