The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-02-20
THE PENAL LAWS.

'IHE PENAL LAWS.
First Enactehphf ireland Were BY Eng.
| :iisk Catholics.
The Duke 81 Norfolk, premier Duke
and premier Catholic layman Of Eng.
Land has always denounced the idea
of Home Rule.s This, of course is moth.
ing new or surprising, coming from
that quarter. with few exceptions
English Catholics have at all times
been the bittefestf opponents of the eff:
forts OF the irish people to obtain their
just rights. Centuries ago before Prot.
estantism was. heard Of in the world
the English in4reland, Catholics, every
man of thenanaae and enforced pc.
nal laws agat6st the native Catholic
Irish, as that: distinguished and patriot
ic 1risnman Dr.: sigerson. noted in a
recent lecture iH.fhn Mansion House,
Dublin, Oh the ssSHstorical Aspect of
Irish unisersttiesss,& says the Anglo.
-Celt. -
"rhe first code 81 penal laws against
Irish Catholics &as* decreed and en-
forced BY Aas1pNorn,an Catholics,
and: stands enhediAd in the Statutes of
KILKENNY and St49ff authoritative doc
uments:: '!rhee ;peers Spiritual and
peers temporal tdhccurred in this ap:
palitng act of inEratitude, and none,
pleaded against tke exclusion: of peo-
PIE (the Irish) pose hospitality had
included all fatns. Not their I'M
spotted viEtd4, thAf unfalling services,
nor; their acJhowtsAsed learning avail.
ed: Is :proted TIA Irish ecclesiastics,
monks or. H1i9s h their own posses.
stons, in thefrota acountry. The Anglo:
Norman temporal peers hanged, and
their spirituals peers excommunicated'
all who allowed them (the 1rish) to re:
main in or to be admitted to Collegi-
ate Churches q, Religious houses: The.
Statutes of Kilkenny of 1867 confirmed
by the Dublin f4Apg]o-ca ;Parlia-
ment of 1904, stringently forbade in
termarriage, fosterage. entertainment
of minstrels .or poets, the use OF Irish
customs gensfaAy, so that to- wear
mustache was 4l1sg gal, and to- say ones.
prayer to God I'll Gaelic a crime"
The facts: here related are authenti-
Gated in. unquestioned history. 1t is:
on record that in 1929 Donald o'Neill,
king; of Ulsters sent a petition on be-
half ofshimselfeand his people to Pope
John KIT; y rsating and protesting.
against the o1tfaaeges and cruelties per-
petrated on, ii. Zip .hative Irish by the
Anglo-No9rmaR;s {catholic). colonists.
The. petition began in the. following
words: TO. o yyc Most. Holy Father
John,s by the g6AeaFa Of Gpdn Sovereign
lRentitf. .>we, hjg faithful. children in.
Jesus Christ, Donald o'Neill, king Of.
:Ulsters and lawful heIsto the throne
of Ireland; the mobiles and great men,
with safl~ the people Of this Kingdom,
recommend and hillnbly cast ourselves
at, Bis feet; etc = 3.
The. petition .thsn proceeded to in:
form the, Holy Father of some of the
doings of the Duke Of Norfolk's coun-
trymen English: Catholics) in Ireland,
and in particular of anew code. of laws
they had just then enacted and. put
into operation, of which the petition
thus describes a few: ":rhe following
will give. Your Holiness some idea Of
their new code. They are the funda-
mental rules. Of English, jurisdiction es-
tablished in this Kingdom:
"First-Every' man who is not Irish
may; for any kind of crime, sc to law
with any Irishman, w lille neither lay:
man nor. ecclesiastical who is Irish
car. under any, caise or provocation
resort to any. legal measures against
his English opponent. :, .::e>
"Seeond-If.s an, Bnglishman kill an
Irishman perfhousEy land falsely, as
frequently occurs. Of whatever. rank
or condition the ifishnan may be, no.
bic OF p1ebiah, innocent or guilty,
clergyman Or, "a t3xgHTa ii, secular or regu-
lar, were he eysRea: bishop, the crime
is not punishab|e.before our English
tribunal. but endshe contrary, the more
the sufferer has >been distinguished
among his countrymen, either for his
virtue or his rank, the more the assas-
sin is exto1led and rewarded by the
English and that not only by the vul.
gar 1English) hut by the (English)
monks. bishops and what is more in
credible. by. the xery magistrates
whose: duty II rs to punish and repress.
crines, - - g, -
That was English s"1aw and order"
in ireland III thosesdays under the rule
of the Catholic ancestors of the Nor
folks. II was no crime for an English
man to kill an .1rishman, but on the
contrary. a highly laudable act, and
such being the lease. the prohibitions
Of the English Catholic "Statute of