The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-03-16


They come to divide 10 1Ishonor.
And tyrants they long will remain.
But onward-the green banner rearing,
Go, flesh every sword to the hilt,
On our side is Virtue and Erin
On theirs is the Saxon and guilt
From the days of the Second Henry
to the days of Henry VIII constant
petty wars went on. The native irish.
betimes, almost succeeded in driving
the invaders from the land. Indeed. at
,one time. the Pale. as the English
settlement was called. was only 20
square miles. Jealousy. however among
the clans and the lack of capable lead :
ership prevented "a contamination de-
voutly to be wished" and SO, for
weary years the country was a prey
to civil war. Betimes some of these
Norman settlers, adopting Irish GUS
toms, Irish dress, the Irish language,
and marrying, despite laws to the con-
trary, Irish wives, became as the
quaint old Chronicle that records the
troubles of the period tells us, "ipsis
Hibernis Hiberniores, more Irish
than the Irish themselves" and fought
against the new invaders that were
constantly crossing from England But
vain all the strife. the English clung
tenaciously to the land they wrestled
ligious upheaval took place in Eng
land, when Henry Tudor saw the gos-
pei light flash from Anne Bolyns beau
tiful eyes, he succeeded, or at least his
children, worthy of such sire, Ed
ward VI and Elizabeth, succeeded in
planting the new faith in England. In
Ireland all efforts to uproot the faith
st. Patrick brought from Rome In the
year 1872 were fruitless. The Irish re-
tanned the old faith, but now, to the
fight, bitter enough, between rival
races. between Saxon and Celt, was
added the added bitterness of differ
ences in religion and there is, it is safe
to say, no bitterness so venomous so
deep, so intense, as the bitterness re-
ligious persecution causes Ireland's
history during the days of the con-
flict in England between Puritan and
Cavalier, that ended with the behead-
ing of the first Charles. during the
Gays of the English commonwealth and
during the reign of Charles II after
the commonwealth went to pieces, is
indeed sad reading; war, persecution,
massacre, slavery, confiscation. James
III made in Ireland the last stand for
his throne and his faith. All Catholic
Ireland fought against King William
and his Orange hordes. Vain the strug-
gle, the combatants were too unevenly
matched and after the defeats, glor-
ious though they were, of the Boyne,
Athione, Anghrim and Limerick. the
Jacobite soldiery sailed for France, and
at last Ireland lay conquered and pros
trate at the absolute mercy Of Eng
land.
England ruled, or rather misruled,
as her own unbiased historians admit
the subject nation and the subject peo-
pie. These days of William, of Queen
Anne, and of the first three Georges
are perhaps the darkest in all Ireland's
annals. These were the days of the penal
laws, laws of unparalleled ferocity,
laws that punished with death and con-
fiscation of property, the harboring of
priest or schoolmaster, laws that placed
on the head of a priest the same price,
the same reward, as on the head of a
wolf. laws that enabled anyone on
to the new faith to dis
possess his Catholic relatives, his own
father or brother as the case might be
of houses and lands. A Protestant poet
thus bitterly speaks of the penal day:
go weep the days. the penal days,
When Ireland hopelessly complained,
o weep the days, the penal days,
When goddess persecution reigned.
When, year by year,
For serf and peer
Fresh cruelties were made by law.
And filled with hate
The senate safe
To weld anew each fetters flaw.
4" They bribed the flock they bribed the
To sell the priest and rob the sire,
Their dogs were taught alike to run
Upon the scent of wolf and friar.
Among the poor,
Or on the moor,
Were hid the pious and the true,
While traitor knave
and recreant slave,
And riches. land and revenue.
Little by little. however, as liberation
grew, little by little the subject race won
back it's rights, and the Irish parliament.
for we had then in Dublin, although it
was strong prof. English body, a par
lament the Irish parliament, little by
little bettered the condition of the down
trodden and oppressed people, who re-
fused to give up their nationality or their
faith. This parliament becoming more
racy of the SOIL" more Irish in sentiment,
finding England in difficulties with Euro
pean nations, and with her rebelious
American colonies, asserted the right to
govern Ireland in matters purely Irish,
Independent of English interference, and
this privilege or right rather, was, grudg-
ingly. of course, granted. 1t was granted,
because at that time Ireland had raised
a force of soldiers, ostenisbly for the
defense of the empire, but really, as Eng
land well knew, to enforce the demands
of the Irish parliament.
When Grattan rose. none dared oppose
The claims he made for freedom,
They knew our swords, to back his words
Wee ready, did he fneed 'em.
Yes but now English diplomacy and
greed undid that work On some pretext
she brought about the disbanding of the
Volunteers, and as it is fact that Eng
land never granted anything to Ireland.
save only when Ireland knocked at her
door with mailed fist, the work or Grat-
tan was undone. The concessions he
gained were withdrawn: nay, more, by
the most barefaced bribery and barter
by the lavish donation of money and IL
ties. the majority of the Irish members
We're induced to commit political suicide
to vote for the abolition of the 1ndepend-
ei1t Dublin parliament, and to agree that
in the future one parliament sitting so
London should legsate for the Limited
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The story of that political trickefy 1s
one of the most disreputable in England s
annals. Well indeed, says the poet ~
/. How did they pass the Unions y ~ 4
BY perjury and fraud:
BY slaves who sold their land for gold,
AS Judas sold his Cod"
When the union passed England alone
benefited. of course. Ireland from being
to all intents and purposes an independ-