The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-09-29

and princes made their submission to
the invader. The king now proceeded
to reward his followers and henchmen
for their services. Leinster was grant.
ed to Strongbow; Meath to Hugh De-
Lacy, and Ulster to John DeCourcy.
Thus the land which was intended by
God, for the habitation of happy
and prosperous people, was parceled
out as rewards to those who deprived
them of their liberties.
The Normans. became more Irish
than the Irish themselves. They be.
came Ireland's most sturdy champions
against English tyranny. Lord Ed
ward Fitzgerald who gave up his life
one hundred years ago for Ireland,
was worthy descendant of the Anglo
Normans. Had the Norman chiefs
been allowed to rule Ireland unham.
pered by England, it would in all
probability have furnished history one
of it's brightest pages. The Irish
people trusted them and yielded un-
swerving loyalty to their chiefs in
war as we'll as in peace, and the mis-
chief done in confiscating the land at
an earlier period, might have been
rectified and atoned for, were it not
for the cupidity of the English SOW
ereigns, and the desire to colonize
Ireland with English settlers. This is
known in history as the Plantations.
AS soon as one of the Irish chiefs was
subdued, his estates were taken from
him and given to another put in his
place, who was either an Englishman
or an Anglo-Irishman, Gan animal
whose species is not yet extinct).
Later on, however, this system was
changed, the land was confiscated by
the crown, and partitioned among Eng
lish adventures, on condition that they
would eject a certain number of the
Irish and put English or Scotch in
their place; they were known as "Un-
dertakers." Very few of them ever
saw Ireland. They were what were
called in later times, Absentee land
lords. A few however, took up their
residence among the Irish people, two
of whom are worthy of mention; Sir
Walter Raleigh, who received a grant
of $4,000 acres of the choicest land
in Cork and Waterford, and resided
in YOughal, and Edmund Spencer the
poet, who was given 10000 acres also,
in Cork. These estates belonged to
the famous Earl of Desmond.
There were many other plantations
later on, the most notable of which
was that of Ulster. The great family
of the O'Neills being subdued chiefly
by treachery, their lands were con-
fiscated and given to the Protestant
followers of William, Prince of Orange,
most of which is retained by them to
the present time. This proved to be
the most vicious and far-reaching in
its results, for it remains to this day
stumbling block in the way of the
hopes and aspirations of the Irish
people. 1t is any wonder that the
Protestant population would be more
prosperous than their less favored
Catholic countrymen. ~
The browning act of infamy per-
petrated on the Catholics of Ireland,
however, was the enactment of the
Penal laws, which among numerous
disabilities imposed on them, was the
denial. of the right to hold land ex-
cept in some isolated districts. It was
not until 1929 when the Catholic Eman-
cipation Act was passed, that those
disabilities were removed. But now,
they were tenants instead of owners;
the land which should be theirs was in
other hands. Their impoverished con.
dition prevented them from purchasing
the land, even if the landlords wanted
to sell. But the landlords would not
sell while they could exact exorbitant
rents, with the aid of their British
hirelings.
Ireland's cup of sorrow was not vet
filled. Just as they were emerging
apparently from their night of gloom,
came the famine of AZ, with it's at
tendant misery and horror followed by
the uprising of '48, and then long
period of rack-renting. The rest is
current contemporaneous history. The
enlightened public sentiment of the
world demanded that Ireland's wrongs
be righted. The Irish can now buy
their land. 1t is Improbable for the
landlords to refuse sale. 1t is true
that they are buying back. what was
stolen from them, but no matter; the
ownership of the land is the first as
sential step in the construction of
nation. After centuries of strife, tur-
MOL and persecution, the Irish are still
a mighty people, capable of great
achievements. What the future has
in store for them, no one can foretell.
.,-.. Summons.
State of Minnesota, County of Henne-
pin-Ss In District Court Fourth