The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-10-23
LOupQi11 and the Irish
(By Michael Earls, s. J.)

(By Michael Earls, s. ~
II the present gigantic war In
Europe is, in the phrase now grown
trite, making history, it is likewise at
tracing attention to many interest
ing pages of past history. Belgian
towns and cities, for instance, already
somewhat known to tourists through
the notes in Baedeker, have now be-
come as familiar as street names to
newspaper readers at the ends of the
earth, since the history of places along
the war roads from Liege to Louvain
has furnished plentiful copy" for
alert publicists in the Sunday jour
nails. The affirmations and the subse-
quent denials about the present state
of things leaves the judgment Of read
ers confused; it is not possible to see
tnroueA~ the battle smoke and the
manufactured reports. But the
records of former days happily remain
outside of acrimonious discussion, and
retain their power to instruct and
their charm to interest.
One of the places that has afforded
ample material for journalistic write
ups" during the recent months, Is the
venerable academic city of Louvain.
What are marks of war upon its fea.
lures today we will not question here;
let that await more dispassionate
time. Neither do we propose to sur.
vey the entire field of Louvain's cen.
turtles. A leaf or two out of its great
volume will be sufficient for the
present, namely, the relations of some
Irish students with this ancient Bel.
gian town.
The proposed retrospect is not far.
fetched. Any tyro in history knows
that countless Irishmen, both in times
Of peace and of war, have written
their names on Belgium's rolls of
honor. To the schoolboy in the class
of defamation, perhaps the glory won
by the Irish Brigade at Families and
Fontenoy is prominent; yet the fame
of Irish valor upon these fields is far
less estimable than the other glories
of Irish achievement on Belgian soil
ireland sent the Faith to Belgium;
and the Irish martyrs, Rombaut, Livin,
and host Of others, strengthened
that Faith with their blood. Ages
rolled by; and when the sword was
drawn against the Faith in Ireland,
Belgium welcomed to her shores the
prosecuted Irish. The mobiles were
honored in the courts of her rulers;
the prelates found peace in her sanctu.
aries, and comfort in the palaces of
her bishops. The Irish merchants
made names for themselves in Flem-
ish cities; and the soldiers were re-
ceived into the service of the Arch
duke of the Netherlands"
The same might truly be said of
Ireland in relation to many other
countries of the continent. Not to
win place in the sun, but in order to
bring the light of learning to the rest
of Europe, these men of heroic faith
built their schools and monasteries
and left an academic Irish street" in
nearly every city of Europe. To this
Iona in the north and Bohbio in the
south, and hundred places between
bear testimony. In later times, when
Ireland was driven from her promi.
nent position, she brought blessings
to Spain in return for the hospitality
afforded her; and when her warriors
were received in France, Ireland was
their generous comradein-arms. dur
ing the latter years of Louis XIV,
there could not have been less, at any
one time, than from twenty thousand
to thirty thousand Irish in his armies
and during the entire century authen
tic documents exist to prove that four
hundred and fifty thousand natives OF
Ireland died in the service OF
France."a
All this is perhaps wide circle to
draw for the purpose of reiterating a
fragment of Irish history in its
European relations yet although the
facts may often have met the readers
eye, many reader still expresses in.
notwithstanding neutral attitude
the genesis of which is easy to under.
stand when it is remembered that
England cut the cables from Ireland
long ago. From the days of Edmund
Sponsors official lies to the time of
Froude's defamations, the English.
speaking world has too often looked
askance at Ireland, asking: "What
good can come out of NAZARETH" DC.
casionally conviction forces the alien
pen to speak true word, such as this
from Swift: Il cannot but highly es.
TEEN those gentlemen from Ireland
who, with all the disadvantages of be-
ing exiles and strangers, have been
able to distinguish themselves in so
many parts of Europe, think, above
all other nations"
But from this obvious depression,
let us turn back to Belgium. Glorious
as were the relations of Ireland with
Europe generally in former centuries,
we are assured that her rocor1 IN pol.