The San Francisco call., 1909-09-15
Infamous Penal Laws
That Crushed Erin
Religious Persecution. Founded Not in Zealoty but IN
Greed, Was Carried Too Far by England
By HUGH SUTHERLAND

status OF Ireland But IL IS quite ciedF
that the Infamous penal laws were In
spired not by zealotry. but by greed.
Pure religious fanaticism." wrote
Leeky. "does not indeed appear ever to
have played dominant part in this
legislation The object of the penal
laws. even in the worst period. was
much less to produce change OF re-
ligion than to secure property and
power by reducing to complete i'm
potence those who had formerly pos
sessed them"
Thus we find that the penal laws had
deadly effect in stripping the Irish
people of their political rights and
their land. and the results are mani
tested today In the evils OF misgov-
ernment and OF the land system which
is now disappearing.
After so years OF enforcement the
severity Of the statutes was allowed to
relax, as they had accomplished the
designed purpose. Very few OF the
Irish had been driven or tempted 10
profess religious conversion" and
their children continued to be educated
In hedge schools" the maintenance
OF which Leeky regards as "one Of the
most honorable features in their his
tory" But the prosecutions started a
stream of emigration OF the best eIe-
ments among the people. a drain which
was never to cease Those who fed
to the continent filed the pages of
war history with the records OF Irish
valor. and took revenge upon England
at Fontenoy and Dettingen. those left
behind, robbed Of every right Of free
men and worn out from massacre and
oppression. sank into serfdom. Ma
tionality was extinguished The peo-
pie were inert. hopeless, exhausted.
Poverty spread among them like a
plague, and there was no strength to
resist it. AT intervals of a few years
came famines. that OF 1741 being SC
desperate that third or the poor of
Munster died OF hunger and fever. As
the black years rolled on the very de-
SPAR OF the suffering people bred law
lessness and violence; there were
bloody risings against the extortion
or the landlords and the extortion
of the state church in the form OF
fithes OF course. these agrarian re-
beiiions met punishment swift and ter
transportation by Wholesale So the
weary tale went on.
1t could not last The very bar
bsrity of the system reacted upon those
who inflicted it. The minority which
held the power became infected with
the weaknesses of despotism. Luxurv
pred extravagance, and extravaxance
pred corruption. Moreover. the tyr
amy which this class practiced
against the Irish majority invited tyr
amy upon itself. England treated
the ruling minority in Ireland with the
narsnness and contempt 1T had earned
tnouEh she did so for selfish reasons
and with no. thought Of revenging
the victims of the system The Irish
parHament-a wholly Protestant body
CatnoHcs being Ineligible for member
snip, and even to vote at the elections
was stripped of all real authority
all It's acts being subject to approval
in London.
Furthermore. England deliberately
strangled Irish industry and trade
those who suffered directly being chief
ly Protestants. since the PENAL laws
had made it virtually Impossible for
Catholics to engage proftably In com
merce. The effect was felt most So
verely in Ulster. whence zoo. 900
Presbyterians emigrafed in so years.
most of them settling in America.
where they added vigor to the revolu
England had gone too far. She was
destined to see Protestants and Catho-
lies united against her and Irish indie
pendence proclaimed throughout the
land. and this before the end OF the
century In which the most sweeping
persecution In history had all but
stamped out Irish nationality
Not all Of the Protestant minority
accepted tamely the oppression from
London. In the course OF years there
arose in the colony a third party.
whose main principle was that the well
fare Of Ireland as a whole should be
held superior TO any other considera-
tion, especially to the interests of Eng
land. The greatets Of these Irish
whigs" were Edmund Burke and
Henry Grattan, and one saying OF the
latter illustrates an important phase
of the new party's policy:
The Irish Protestant never can be
free, he said. while the Irish Catho-
lie is a slave"
Deep rooted as was the minority's
hatred and fear OF the Catholic major
ity, these men and their followers were
big enough TO despise and oppose it.
For the theory that the great mass OF
the citizens must be ground down and
oppressed for the benefit OF the few
they substituted the idea OF Irish ma
tionality. 1t took root and grew. and
religious differences no longer operated
to prevent Ireland's presenting united
front to England There were heard
demands for justice. for liberation from
the intolerable burden OF misrule by
a selfish minority In Ireland and an
Indifferent government In England
Perhaps the movement would have
succeeded in any event. but the thing
which turned the scale was the
American revolution. The militia Of
10000 raised by Ireland for defense
in ITS gave hint OF the countrys
power. Its demands became more inn
perative. and England. sobered by the
loss of her greatest colony. was forced
to yield. With great strides ireland
advanced toward the goal OF na-
tional existence.
In ITS Catholics regained some of
their lost rights They could once
more own land and inherit under the
common law.
Within year the shaekles which
England had fastened upon Irish IN
dustry and commerce Were struck on.
In 1882, under. leadership OF Grattan.
the Irish parliament asserted and
compelled recognition OF it's independ-
ence. Ireland was now an independ-
ent nation, bound to England only by