The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-05-20
LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
AN APoL oeY FOR THE REBELS.
ST. Paul, MINI
May Is, 1916.
To the Editor OF The Catholic Bulle

~ Tie EullOF OIL 4 H0 N"llloiAo Dulic-
tin:
Your editorial "A Tragic Week II in
the last issue of The Catholic Bulle-
tin, was to me, and | have no doubt,
to so many others of your subscribers,
painful reading. Your designation of
leaders of the Dublin revolt as men
robbed of reason as "rabid,' as
"unjustilied, as pawns in the hands
CT certain Irish Americans, leads me
to believe that you were not sufficient
ly Informed ON the question, or else
that you for some reason fail to ap-
preciate the viewpoint of the cause
they represent. You assume the role
of prophet and predict that those
''hotheaded' and misguided" young
men will go down to history as
rebels. presume to be neither a
prophet nor the son of prophet yet
judging by what ! know of the gener-
GUS character of those leaders, of the
lofty motives that actuated them, and
their insurrection | feel safe in assert
ing that history will reverse your
Judgment. Those martyred leaders
were the flower of Irish manhood the
nobleSt souls in which burned the
purest idealism of Irish nationhood,
and the most devoted and self-sacri-
ficing laborers in the. Gaelic move
ment to restore and preserve the ma
tive and spiritual Celtic civilization.
Why, you'll say, did they try the i'm
possible? Has not Ireland ever tried
it, and ever failed! Yes, and always
succeeded, for like the milll-white
hind, though doomed to death, she's
fated ne'er to die. Is success the
only test of greatness? File, for
shame, leave such test to materi-
alistic world, but surely to a Catholic
and to a Celt he is the hero, he is the
patriot, he is the martyr, who will
sacrifice all, even life itself to uphold
a principle, to promote an ideal. Is
not the blood of martyrs the seed of
Christianity? Be assured too that the
blood of those noble heroes who gave
their lives for the Irish nation in Dub
lin will do more for the ultimate tri-
umph Of Erin's cause than all the
grandiloqnent rhetoric Of the Irish
Party in Westminster, or all the
supercilious criticisms of the wise
acres who sagely deplore such mad
| folly
No, you do grave injustice to
those Sim Fein, or rather Volunteer,
| leaders, when you deprecate their
| sacrifice as hasty act of unWisdom.
We all admired the rise Of the Irish
Volunteers to offset the Carsonite
armed resistance to Home Rule. We
had hoped great things therefrom
| But England, who gave free hand
| to the Carsonites, feared and sought
| to repress the Nationalist forces. She
| failed. They progressed, until her
| alarm knew no limits. At last she
| resolved to dishand and disarm those
champions of Irish self-government
! And as we gather from the little al
lowed to leak through by the censor
| her course became SO provocative that
all that remained for the Volunteers
was to tamely submit to the I'm.
doing of the work of years, or to re
sist. The issue was put up to the
| Government, but she, unable or un
willing to learn from past expert
ence, persisted, and by high-handed
! action created an intolerable situation
similar to that of 1898. To English
tyranny then not Sim Fem rashness