The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-12-11
A CENTURY OF GLOON
IN THE EMERALD ISLE
Awful Period During Which,
the Roman Catholics Were
Persecuted for their Faith
by the Protestant Parlia-
ments of England and Ire
land--The Penal Laws Con-
demned by the Liberal
Men of all Nations.

N1en OF all 1N0ClOnS.
At meeting of the Gaelic League
recently held in Dundalk, County
Louth, Ireland, the following paper
was read by Mr.. Patrick O'Kelly on
the Penal Laws, which Montesquiea
says were "inspired by devils, writ
ten in human gore and registered in
help:
Towards the close of the sixteenth
century, Queen Elizabeth and her
Government set themselves to the task
Of destroying the native Irish, who
were mostly all Catholics. The twin
influence of English sectarianism and
greed induced her to send Mountjoy
and Carew at the head of a large
army to carry out the destruction of
Catholic Ireland ans the confiscation
of Irish estates. Munster and Lem
ster were devastated and scourged
from end to end. English adventures
were planted throughout the land. Ire
land was put to the sword. One after
another the Irish chiefs surrendered
or were defeated. Hugh O'Neill, the
hero of the time, made such stubborn
resistance that peace negotiations
had to be entered into. O'Neilrs
terms were all agreed to, except one,
namely, liberty of conscience for Irish
Catholics. This Elizabeth indignant
ly refused. The war continued. Eng
lish armies went forth with scythes
and harrows. Crops just ripening
were cut down. Newly sown crops
were ripped up. Farming stock was
either destroyed or handed over to the
settlers Eventually famine ensued,
in which thousands of men, women
and children died of starvation, until,
as the Annals of the Four Masters re-
late, "the lowing OF the COW or the
voice of the ploughman could scarce
ly be heard throughout Munster"
The native Irish were driven into
Connacht by Cromwell, where they
were cooped like rabbits in warren.
They were forbidden to approach with
in two miles of the Shannon under
pain Of death. They were thus trans
planted to live in smoky cabins or
under the open air. The unhappy
wretches who got thus far were not at
the end Of their misery, for in crowds
they laid down, measuring their own
graves in common confusion and mis-
cry. Peer and peasant alike starved
to death. Foreign nations were all
lowed to recruit from among the dis
| banded Irish soldiery. Nearly $4,000
young men left the country to servo
under foreign banners. The confiscat-
ed lands of Ulster, Munster and Lein-
ster were split up and divided amongst
the favorites of Cromwells army. Six
thousand boys and girls and four
thousand unhappy Irishwomen were
disposed of to West Indian planters,
to enter into shameful slavery in the
West Indies, Virginia and Jamaica.
| The Catholic population, after all this
destruction, was very thnned and
eakened and the Government of the
country passed into the complete con-
troll of the Protestapts, who, yet very
much in the minority, controlled every
position of trust or significance AMI
Possessed nearly all the fertile land Of
the country
| Elizabeth's penal enactments relaxed
somewhat after the departure Of
1,Iountjoy. Partly owing to their ex-
cessive severity. and partly on account
CT the interference through pity of
portions of the Protestant population,
civil disturbances of one kind or other
revented those laws from being kept
in continual operation. The turn If
events again CAME with the arrival Of
James II from France with large
expedition to defend the Catholic pop
ulation, who again turned to arms.
English shackles were again cast OF,
and the administration of law was
completely baffled. James was unsuc-
cessful in endeavoring to retain the
crown against William, and his cam
paign in Ireland was a delusion. 1t
vas, however, productive of one effect
in temporarily bringing about a COM
promise between Sarsfield and King
William at the siege of Limerick.