The Irish standard., 1915-07-17

Home Rule. The only important
events that have occurred in the mean.
time, so far as the realization of
Irish hopes are concerned, is the be-
lief and hopes that were raised, only
to be dashed out disappointedly at
regular intervals, an instance which
is illustrated in connection with the
last Home Rule Bill. Thanks to kind
Providence most of the young men of
Ireland have seen the folly of their
ways. They realize that there is
something better in the world for an
Irishman, than wearing British red
coat; that he can have hopes and am
billions, and can live a life of useful
ness; that the great missionary field
of the Irish clergy is out of all pro.
portion to the number of Irish laity
who should have been given an Oh.
portunity in their own way to stamp
their individuality upon the world;
that there is place and time and
the prosperity permitted by the world
for the serious son of the Emerald
Isle; and that he may do something
more and something better than at
tempting to receive the praise of a
Wellington, who despised his Catholic
soldiers although he was forced to
admit their valour, and that the young
men of Ireland are not dying in the
trenches in the hope that future gen.
erations will read of some compliment
paid them by Sir John French, who
preferred to become a traitor with
Carson and his rebellious soldiers, a
year ago, rather than see the Home
Rule Bill, emaciated though it was,
placed upon the statute books. Irish
men and women are growing weary of
having English journals praising the
manner in which they rushed to their
death, as il that was the only thing
that they were fitted for, and the only
act that became them. To read of the
Irish in the thin red line of Water
loo," and the compliments given by
Sir John French in the present Euro
pean conflict, the world is led to be-
lieve that nothing is so becoming an
Irishman in his life, as the giving of
it, we quote from the Dundalk Journal
the following:
In letter to the Irish Times"
evoked by that newspapers very in.
teresting and creditable Waterloo
Centenary Illustrated Supplement-
the Rev. Courtenay Moore, rector of
MitchelstOwn, quotes the remarkable
utterance of the great Duke of Well
ington:
ut is already known to your
lordships that of the troops
which our gracious Sovereign did
me the honour to entrust to my
command at various periods dur
ing the war-a war undertaken
for the express purpose of secur-
ing the happy institution and in
dependence of the country-at
least one-half were Roman Catho-
lies. Your lordships are
we'll aware for what length of
period and under what difficult
circumstances they maintained
the Empire buoyant upon the
flood which overwhelmed the
thrones and wrecked the institu-
tions of every other people-how
they kept alive the only spark of
freedom which was left unextin-
guished in Europe. NV
lords, it is mainly to the Irish
Catholics that we owe all our
proud performance in our mill
tary career, and that personally
am indebted for the laurels with
which you have been pleased to
decorate my brow. We
must confess, my lords, that,
without Catholic blood and Catho-
lie valour, no victory would ever
have been obtained, and the first
military talents might have been
exerted in vain.'
This speech was very probably de-
livered in the debates on the Catholic
Emancipation Bill in 1929. It is the
speech of man who was no friend of
the Catholics, but who, in speaking of
the part they took in the wars that
ended with Waterloo, spoke of what
he knew and had at least the grace to
acknowledge.
Two thoughts are suggested by the
passage above quoted. One is that
had English statesmen not shown
countenance to the landlord and
Orange clique whose operations sent
millions of the Irish peasantry into
exile in the later years of the last
century, there would be nine millions
of the best fighting material in the
world from which to draw men of the
same type as those who kept alive
the only spark of freedom that was
left unextinguished in Europe" hun
dred and odd years ago. The other is
that history is repeating itself in the
part played by Irish Catholics in the
present war; The Irish regiments
and soldiers have covered themselves
with new glory, from the day the
Munster Fusiliers, cut off in the re.
front fror, NF1nc o,,d