The Irish standard., 1915-02-27

III i Ills Issue
when France was on the very point of
invading England. how an appeal was
made to this country, as the daughter
of England, that she should come to
the rescue, and that she should not
let England fight alone. shall read
the lines that were written by the then
Laureate and will show you in a word
or two what might have been the con-
sequences had we listened to them.
Here is the famous toast written to
this country. written on behalf of Eng
land to what he calls the gigantic
daughter of the West:
Gigantic daughter of the West,
We drink to thee across the flood, :,
We know thee most, we love thee best,
For art thou not of British blood?
Should wars mad blast again be blown,
Permit not thou the tyrant Powers
To fight thy mother here alone,
But let thy broadsides roar with ours.
Hands all around!
God the tyrant's cause confound!
To our great kinsmen of the West. nv
friends,
And the great name of England
round and round"
We did not listen to the pitiful plea
of the Laureate of that time, just as
we are not prepared to listen to the
still more pitiful plea that was put
forth to us a month or two ago by an
other English poet, Mr.. Watson, and
we had good reason to be glad we did
not listen for just ten years after those
lines were penned Confederate priva-
teers, built in English ship yards, with
England's knowledge and with Eng
lands money, were sent out to drive
American commerce from the seas, and
take the stars and stripes from every
ship, and they succeeded to a large
extent, and from that time to this
American commerce has never recov-s
cred. But we thank God we did not
listen to the appeal that was made to
the gigantic daughter of the West, and
the gigantic daughter of the West to-
day is amply able to look after her
own affairs, is amply able to keep out
of all entangling alliances, is amply
able to tell England and every nation,
Hands OFF," (Applause)
| shall say no more OH that side Of
the question, side that will be pre-
sented tonight from many platform,
except once more to thank God that
there is a man in the White House
worthy of the place that was immor-
talized by the first President. Gap
lause.) There is another aspect of
the case which will particularly apply
to a speech on this subject, another
aspect of the case to which will draw
your attention, and that is the deliber-
ate attempt that has been made for
the last twenty years, or thereabouts,
to take every honor from Washington,
and to remind us that he was nothing
but an ordinary individual-that he
did nothing great; that any one might
have done all that he did; that Eng
land, in fact, gave up the struggle be-
cause she did not think it worth her
while to persevere in the effort. That
has been driven into the youth Of this
country for the last twenty years.
Compare the school books of today
with those of twenty years ago. Twen-
ty years ago we did not hesitate and
we would be disappointed if we did not
, see in the school books the "Star Span
gled Banner written out in full, if we
did not hear sung on every occasion
that glorious song. Today, largely
, through the result of the millions of
one who pretends to be an American,
but who, in reality, is an Englishman;
today largely through the millions that
Y have been squeezed from the sweat
! and blood of the toilers and miners of
this country, the lesson has been
! brought home to the minds of the
e children Of this land that they should
e forget the glories of Washington, that
D they should forget all about the Revo-
luton; that it was all right to tell the
e story about Washington and his little
f hatchet, but the children of today shall
Q not be reminded of how the Father Of
n his Country and his soldiers crossed
d the icy Delaware, and how they won
!. that battle that shall forever go down
8 in history at Yorktown. That is the
It impression that has been conveyed in
e our school books. That Is what the
g. millions have been spent upon, to
r, bring to the children of today the
10 idea that the revolutionary period is
N nothing to be proud Of; that we should
Id forget ell the differences between our
10 selves and the mother country. But
ir you might as we'll try to take the star.
O. from the heavens as to rob our you'll
" of their ideals, of the glories Of thu
~ patriots who made their country. Car
IN plause.) A famous politician Of today
70, Continued on page ~