The Irish standard., 1910-09-03
Best Judged by Facts of the Past
Rather Than Pretensions of
the Present. :. :.
Story of the Burning of Washington
by the British in 1914
Recalled.
An Act of Vandalism That Has No
Parallel in the History of
the World.

:.
"A veteran host by veteran led,
With Ross and Cockburn at their head, -
They came-they saw-they burned-and
ned!" s,.
No capital of any country ever
shared the fate Of our capital. The
burning of Washington by The British
is the only case of vandalism on rec
ord in the history of the world, and in I
the columns of England's chief news
paper, the London Times, 1t stands az
a loudly applauded splendid achieve.
ment."
The Encyclopedia Britannica, a Brit.
ish publication, acquits the Vandals Of
the methods long associated with their
name III the following language:
There does not seem to be in the story
of the capture of Rome by the Vandals
any justification of the charge of the
destruction of public buildings, which
This publication boils down the whole
history Of the Cockburn barbarsm to
one sentence, as follows I'm 1914,
during the second year of war with
Great Britain, it (Washington) was
captured by the British troops, and the
capitol, together with most OF the 9TH
er public buildings, was burned" This
is rather vague sentence and the
reader can infer, if he desires, that the
burning was the result of an accident
during the capture.
This act Of vandalism was not the
only one performed by England. In
February, 1873 a British squadron ap-
peared in the Delaware Bay and de-
stroyed many vessels. On the 10th,
Lewiston was bombarded because the
inhabitants refused to supply the en-
emy with fresh provisions. 1T was,"
says Spencer, 'in the Chesapeake
principally that this discreditable ,spe-
cies Of warfare was carried on by tho
/ British ships. Cockburn was In COM
mand and he rendered his name and
character notorious on account Of the
numerous piratical incursions in which
he induged, the houses he robbed, the
families he plundered, the wanton de-
struction of property he authorized,
/ and the shameful insults and injuries
he inflicted upon defenseless women
and children"
Trenchtown. Md, was attacked and
plundered on April 20. On this occa-
| sion Cockburn burned and plundered
the village to the amount of $4,000 be-
sides some ships that were in the har-
| Dor. Havre de Grace was the maraud.
ing knights next object Of visitation
On May 3 the British ships assatled
| the town by rockets, which set the
houses on fire, followed by destructive
bombshells, and while the panic and
fire were raging the enemy landed.
Finally the British burned and plun-
dered the town and sunk many ves-
the Sassafras river, burning and plun-
dering. Havre de Grace was 100000
poorer when they left than when they
came. Georgetown and Fredericktown
few days later received visits from
Cockburn and were deprived of con-
siderable property. "These exploits
says Spencer, "were worthy of pirates
and savages."
To continue Cockburn's vandalism
would only be repetition of the fore- +
going. In Spencer's history there Is
one passage we'll worth quoting. 1t is
as follows: "Great Britain was angry
and almost furious and the war hence- 3
forth promised to be one of savage
inroads and ruthless destruction" No !!
truer words were ever penned. BY the |:
treaty of Montmartre, March, 1914.
Napoleon was exiled to Elba and Eu- 1
rope was again at peace. The close
Of the war had not only enabled Eng g
land to strengthen her land forces In
America, but had also liberated many
of her warships and the result was
felt all along our coast. England'ss}
purpose to conquer territory which
might be retained after the war, Sap-aa
parently enough before, was not dea~s