The Irish standard., 1908-01-18
the GREAT L|BERAT0R
O'Connell's Immortal Vindica-
tion Of Himself
As "The Hired Servant Of
Ireland"

ton, one of the greatest platform ora
tors that ever lived, a master of burn
ing invectivc, and of humor that was
perfectly Irresistible, says the Dublin
Freeman of January 4.
His literary style was full of the
most vigorous eloquencc, and of him it
can we'll be said that he said or wrote
nothing that was not well worth read
ing at the time, and that is not we'll
worth reading today. Amongst the
products of his pen his ANSWER to
the Earl of Shrewsbury" stands very
high, as can be readily understood
from the exquisite gem we select from
it this week. 1t is his immortal vim
dication of himself as "thc hired serv-
ant of Ireland"
THANK you. good English Catholic.
for the words! You also charged Peel
with making 4; solemn and monlent-
GUS accusation against the Catholic
Bishops Of Ireland whom you then
called the most unilnpeachabIe prelacy
in the world-"of being guilty of the
most audacious impicty in canceling
one of the Ten Commandments in or
der to natter their favorite propen-
stiles to idolatry.'
In short, you proved that he made
of the Divine Decalogue Itself an in
strument of forgery and fraud to in
jure Catholicity; that the words that
were uttered on Mount Sinai, amidst
the lightnings of Heaven, were dis
torted by him to bigoted party pur-
poses. You stigmatised him as hav-
ing lit a torch at those lightnings in
order Herewith to blast the reputa-
tion and annihilate the hc~as of the
Catholics. You proved him to be Il
blasphemer for paltry party purposes,
and you declared that he ought to be
exposed to the scorn and derision of
the world.
Yet you ape his intelnperancc; you
initiate his virulencc; and you actual
ly adopt and employ his scurrility
against the man without whose aid
you would still be in a condition
worse than an alien, and more de-
graded than that Of the meanest male
factor"
Proud lord! rejoice in the contrass
between us. No man with one particle
of feeling would, for your honours and
estates, malign his friends and en-
brace his cnemy-as you, in the pur-
est spirit of gratuitous treachery, have
volunteered to do.
Let me revert to the worst part of
your charge against me. You accuse
me of want of charity, and Of want
of justice, in exciting animosity be-
tween the two nations Read the
charge over again, and weigh we'll
for you cannot eXaggcrate--its sever
ity. And when you have convinced
yourself of the enormity of the guilt
it alleges, read this passage:
The spirit of hostility which actu-
ates the peasantry of England against
the poor. wandering, cxpatriated Irish
is the same which has ever governed
the higher classes in their treatment
of that unhappy country Whose
language is this? Stand forth, Earl
of Shrewsbury, Waterford. and Wex-
ford, for these are thy words
Are they false? Then no stigma can
be dark enough to brand the man who
uttered them. Are they true? If it
be true that the English, the highest
classes included. are and ever have
been, governed by the vulgar preju-
dices and the mean hostility of the
lowest peasants in their treatment of
Ireland, then what censure can be
severe enough to inllict upon the man
who in his own controversy published
these truths. exciting animosity and
hate between the two countries" and
who then turns around upon me, and
accuses me as guilty of deep crime in
exciting that animosity. merely be-
cause said, not that the majority of
the people of England, who arc
Protestants, but a small minority of
the minority of the English people
who are Catholics, were hostile to the
Irish?
And you-you, Earl of Shrewsbury,
thus accuse me, and charge me with
the want Of charity. and of truth,
though l did not so the one tenth OF
tho length of uncharitablcneas YOU
yourself proclaimed.
If 1t were a crime in me to make
the mitigated assertion. what can be
the degree of your guilt, your want
of charity. of justice, of truth, when
you made the sweeping, the all-com-
prehensivc allegation of cvcr-endurins
bitterness and hostility to the Irish
on the part of all classes, "high and
low. great and small,' of tho Englisl,
nation?