The Irish standard., 1914-01-03
Character of the Irish Race so Remarkabl.
That it Has Aroused the Interest
of All Races and Peoples
1t Has Distinguished Itself in Peace and in
War, Science and Art, Literature
and Craftsmanship

emily; among no people is the Faith
stronger. Against no people have
more stringent measures been taken
to deprive them of their commercial
industrial and political freedom; and
yet, no people cherish a warmer love
for such freedom.
The Irish were never intended to be
race of slaves, and this is the rea-
son they have never been completely
subdued. They have been subjugated,
but never conquered. If the Almighty
created some men to be slaves and
others to be rulers and leaders, it is
most certain that the Celtic race be-
longs in the latter class. They have
never, as people, manifested SIN
gle tendency that would fit them for
serfdom, but they have, on the other
hand, often shown their capacity for
leadership.
British Oppression and Persecution.
English dominion began in the lat
ter part of the twelfth century, and
with British rule began British op-
preston and persecution. This do.
minion was not generally diffused over
the island until the time of Elizabeth.
That queens success in the exten.
sion of her authority lay in wanton
massacre and in deliberately created
famine. Year after year the crops OF
Ireland's fertile fields were destroyed
During the famine that resulted Eliza
beth calmly beheld thirty thousand OF
her subjects starved to death. Fol
the first four hundred years Of the
extension of English authority, the
Irish were considered outlaws. They
might be killed by an Englishman
with perfect impunity, so far as pun,
ishment by law was concerned.
The devastation carried on in the
time of James forms material for
another dark page in the history of
Ireland's oppression. Perhaps no &C.
count in the annals of Christendom
is more horrible than that of Crom.
wells subjugation of Ireland, with his
deliberate cruelty and systematic
bloodshed. According to his own
words: when they submitted, their
officers were knocked on the head
every tenth man of the soldiers was
killed, and the rest were shipped for
the Barbados Ito be sold into slav.
ery)." Fully as intolerable as the
sword were the iniquitous laws i'm
posed upon Ireland, the Penal Laws
and the restrictions on Irish trade
Such have been the trials, expressions
and prosecutions of this people.
Adversely Has Stimulated Them.
Where is there a race that could
undergo all this without becoming alb.
ject, without losing that ambition
which distinguishes the freeman from
the slave, without being deprived of
those qualities which go to make up
the character of a people, without
sinking into the obscurity of thral-
dom, without losing its very identity
as people? But adversely has stimu.
lated instead of discouraging them,
and race that has been tortured on
the rack, dragged to the scaffold,
rohhod of tho fr,,i<o ~ {%c 1o1,ou coo%
tered like the autumn leaves before
the winters blast" over all parts of
the earth, and left destitute and mis-
erable only in its own land, has proved
itself the world over capable of lead
ing its fellowmen.
In the pursuits of peace, the Celtic
blood has been found solving the prob
lens and molding the characters of
Empires and Republics. It was that
blood that fired the soul of Edmund
Burke, the greatest orator of modern
times and the mightiest statesman Of
his age. 1t was that blood that
warmed the hearts of Parnell, Graf
tan, Phillips, Sheridan, and O'Con-
nell. 1t was Celtic love of liberty
and justice that burned in the hear,
of Emmet and impelled him to sac
rifice his life as a martyr to his coun-
try. It was Irish blood that lighted
the brain of Oliver Goldsmith, most
for his versatility, whose
Deserted Village" and "Vicar of
Wakefield" are so full of rich vi
vacity and charm that they are as
readable today as they were in the
days of Johnson.
lr,sn Love for Art and the Muse.
1t was Irish love for the esthetic
that guided the chisel which gave form
sgst