The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1914-05-23

of Washington. Here we summon
before US, out of the Silent Land,
Washington and Barry; one, the
Father of his Country. the other
the Father Of the American Navy.
Companions in arms. co-workers in
the War of independence. today
again together they receive the joint
homage of grateful American hearts.
Unique was the service they render
ed Humanity. Unknown to them
were the myriad uses of steam and
electricity. Unknown to them were
the flying machine and the photo
grhaph. Unknown to them were
the telegraph and the telephone. Yet
greater service than all these to-
gether rendered Washington and
Barry to our beloved country and to
all mankind. when Washington and
Barry laid the keel of this republic
and launched on the sea of time this
novel and noble ship of state whose
every timber was sound in the rights
of man.
He who ruleth himself is greater
than he who taketh city. Nay
more! So essential to society itself is
at least one restraint, some self-gov-
ernment of the individual, that to
promote this has been the task of
rulers all down the ages. Confused
with this task, this need and duty
was the title to office of the ruler,
and hence arose the fallacy of the
divine right of Kings. 1t was the
work of Washington and Barry, and
the other Fathers of this Republic to
direct mems minds to the truth
that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their creator
with certain inalienable rights, that
among these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness, that to secure
these rights governments are estab-
lished among men. deriving their
just powers from the consent of the
governed. In other words, the germ
of all true government is to be found
in the self-control of the individual,
for in the providence of God, man is
a microcosm. We will not therefore
make mistakes in our institutions
when they are made to conform to
| the needs of man. Hence the ever
increasing adaptability of our gov
ernment to our greater needs. What
surfaced for three millions of free
men along the Atlantic seaboard, Is
fraught with the blessings Of liberty
and order to one hundred millions in
a land that spreads from ocean to
ocean, from Canada to the Gulf.
We view with anxiety the perils
of the republic to the south of us,
but Mexico can never see in us a
menace to their cropping for self
government. as long as the helm of
our ship of state is held true to the
course laid for it by Washington and
Jack Barry.
OF both Washington and Barry, it
may be said that their own glory was
their country's good. Washington
served without pay-Barry gave
both self and vested to the cause Of
freedom. Lord Howe offered Jack
Barry over one hundred thousand
dollars in gold, and the command of
British frigate. Barry's answer
was: - mo, not for the value of the
English navy and the command of it
all, could l be seduced from the
cause of my country"
But there stands mere distin-
guished soldier and jurist, an Irish
man from the southland, General P.
w. Meldrim, of Savannah, Georgia,
who will speak more at length of
both Barry and Washington
Judge De Lacy then introduced
General Meidrim, who spoke as fol-
lows:
Mr.. Chairman:-Cicero in letter
| to his son said: 1--WE are not born
for ourselves alone. our country
claims her share of u.s." The illus
trious dead, in whose honor we have
made this pilgrimage. gave his full
| share to his country for he tells us
| in his farewell address that he had
spent forty-five years in her service.
The world long since, in recognition
of that service. rendered not only to
his country, but to the cause of Lib
erty, placed on his tomb the laurel
wreath. Today the Irish in Amer
lea. tenderly and reverently, lay by
the side of the laurel a few simple
shamrocks. While the men Of the
blood of Lafayette and DeKalb. Of
John Paul Jones and Pulaski, con-
tributed to the success of the Amer
lean colonies, yet 1t is historically
true that England lost America
through Ireland.
In order to understand the Irish
in America, something should be
known of the Irish in Ireland, and l
have thought that the physical Pc
-