The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-11-27
A PANEGyR|C UPON THE IRISH RACE
WORTHY Of A CAREFUL PERUSAL
Despite Centuries Of Oppression the Irish Heart Still Svs With
Mystic Plans and Cryptic Sympathy
Impossible Where Deliberate Disdan and Inherited Hatred
Prevent Fair Examination of Affairs.

Ireland has been SO close to us this
week in the rousing reception accord
ed to the eminent Irish envoys, that
Louise Imogene Guineys pathetic
prophecy seems the faint echo of q
far-off mocking taunt: I'VE have
never been conquered; we are uncon-
querable-but we have no hope" She
heritage of the Celtic temperament.
Who could help being hopeful under
the enthusiastic spell of that monster
meeting to welcome well and worthily
the men Of an international repute for
eloquence and efficiency? The Irish
cause is helped in many ways and by
many minds. But perhaps r. Barry
O'Brien with his Dublin Castle and
the Irish People" and Alice Stopford
Green with her Making and Undoing
of Ireland" have given to an intelligent
reading public in the entire English
speaking world, he with his cold
blooded facts, figures statements and
statistics, she with consummate his
| torical skill and rhetorical deftness, as
| Onn1yinr3nU raronfr oP ~ "a t1H'e
tematic efforts, in a conspiracy CEN
turtles old, to crush out Of existence
the most remarkably vital nation on
Gods great earth, as have come before
our notice in years. Iloquence, even
if as convincing and inspiring as that
of the Irish parliamentary ENJOYS, is
limited in its power to reach the null
titude and handicapped by the exigen-
cies of space. But such scholarly
books as these have the entire world
to appreciate their contents There
is no gauge to measure their worth,
no limit or barrier to their effectusl
apostolate.
1relands cause has advanced in gi-
gantic leaps and cyclopean bounds by
the publication Of such volumes, says
the Providence Visitor of Nov. 49,
Loud -tongued but false prophets have
been croaking for scores Of years about
the passing away of the two great
world forces, the Celtic race and the
Catholic Church-synonymous terms
God be praised in the prejudicc,1
minds of their enemies. False educa-
ton, criminal codification of penal
laws crushing tyranny enforcing
emigration, these have done their
worst for the extinction Of the Celt.
The wiseacres Of the commercial and
scientific world have scorned the Irish
man as a dreamer. viewer Of visions
maudlin medievalist, a consorter OF
sprites and fairies. He is held up az
q laughing stock in comparison with
his canny neighbors Of the Highlands
or across the Channel in thrifty
France or beyond the remote Rhine
land or over seas in America.
In all lands where science subjugates
the fancy and material wealth and Wis
I iblc prosperity alone betokens culture
Ireland Is the theme for mockery and
malicious criticism. The late lament
ed Benjamin Andrews, genial, provin-
cial and erratic, who never hid his
lamp under the scriptural bushcl, tn;
luminary from the college on our cas-
sic hilltops, was heard to say, in con.
descending patronage on the very
platform where stood the Irish envoys
this week: THE Irish, as we know
them, in our kitchens!" 1t is moro
than flesh and blood can stand at times
to sit meekly under such compliment
did we not know that BLESSED are tn,
meek, for they shall inherit the EARTH
We who could boast as a Howard die
!, to Spencer: "My ancestors wer'
plotting treason while yours wer'
herding goats!" must sit supinely b:
while Ireland is bespattered with tn
!, slime of ignorance and injury to HI,
fair untarnished name. Oh, Lord, shall
. It be forever and the day after that?
Innisfail was not always bondc
J slave; the chattel Of the Saxon over
, lord. She was once nation, proui
l and Justly so, Of her sovereigns, he
| lou h~v 1o, hor so%n
p