The Irish standard., 1911-04-29
Their Influence Minimized Because
Historians Have Had Pro-Brit-
ish Inclinations.
In Every Chapter Of Our History
May be Found the Heroic Story
of the Race.
In the Great Crisis of This Nation
Their Valor Has Not Been
Wanting.

Those who are prone to minimize
the part played by the Irish in America
will find some Illuminating facts in the
following quotation from a recent
speech made in Lowell, Mass, by Jer-
emiah O'Sullivan:
That the Irish race played a pre-
dominating part in the establishment
of this republic has not been gener-
ally recognized, because history has
been written by those who had pro-
British inclinations. Injustice has
been done, because history has not
been truthfully told. We could hard
ly write a single chapter of the his
tory of this country without mingling
with it the heroic story of the Irish
race. They have enriched the blood
of America beyond all other peoples.
Wherever danger called they have
always been found in the front. They
have ever been first to bear the bugle
blast to arms and victory, whenever
and wherever sounded on land or sea,
for liberty.
Sullivan and Langden struck the
first blow for the Revolution in the
assault on Fort William and Mary
before the 'reseundtng arms Of Lex
ington were heard around the world.
jeremiah O'Brien was the first to win
victory on the sea, and John Barry,
who now sweetly sleeps at st. Mary's,
was the last. The first shot fired for
the Union (Which was at Fort Sum-
ter) was sighted by the clear eye
and touched by the loyal hand of Pat
rick Gibbon. And Corcoran was the
first officer to fling Old Glory to the
breeze on the sacred soil of old Vir-
ginia. On all the battlefelds of the
republic from Lexington to York
town, and from Fort Sumter to Ap-
pomattox, the Irish soldier has given
to the arms of this country his
matchless valor and poured out his
blood like water-everywhere on ev-
cry field of honor the sunburst of
Irish loyalty has waved side by side
with the starry banner.
They were with Sullivan and
Wayne and Knox and Morgan. They
fought at Lexington, Bunker Hill,
Stony Point, Monmouth, Bennington,
Kings Mountain, Cowpens and York
town. They were with George Wash
igton on all the fields of carnage to
light torch below and set new
star in the armament above. And in
the great civil conflict there were no
battles fought for the Union in which
the Irishman did not share with dis
tinguished valor. That Irish ideal
is further exemplified in the deep,
heartfelt and poignant yearning for
the day so long coming, and so pa
tiently waiting when he can behold
his beloved Ireland taking her place
among the nations of the world. Yes,
however dreamy and chimerical it
ludy dpp6dA we ClluS W IudC luSdl III
the fond hope that the future has a
''hoarded summer time" for Ireland
when her ancient glory may be re-
vived and surpassed.
We shall cling to that ideal until
the foreign blight is removed, when
the valleys and the hills and rivers
shall sing with happy Irish voices of
the owners of the land, and the long
silence will be broken by the whirr
of busy wheels! when the ships shall
sail in and out on every tide from the
harbors that are capable of accom-
modating the navies of the world;
when the stone shall be rolled away
from her sepulchre; and she will no
longer be the island OF sorrow, and
when her songs shall be attuned to a
new spirit, and the voice of the Celt
shall be heard through thousand
years Of triumph, as it has through a.
thousand years of pain.