The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-10-09

IL give TO ner, my country, pe-
cause she hath given all to me. After
God she has given me life; after God
she has protected me; her children
that have come and gone before me
have withstood the summers heat
and winters cold, have labored and
struggled and suffered and bled and
died that I might be a free man. My
forefathers she received with open
arms; tenderly she nursed them; lib
erty, justice and equality she gave
them; the shield of her protection
she set up before them; with her
life's blood did she guard them; the
right to worship God untrammeled
and unrestrained, she insured them
she gave them place, distinction,
honor, all, reserving nothing, and
now, when she is in need and calls
to ne with all I have I quickly an
swer: "Here! That is a soldiers
answer to a slacker's 'why?''
"There are too many of ancestry
like to mine, Irish-American, if you
will, whose judgment is blinded by
their hatred toward England. Let
them beware lest their animosity to-
ward England be interpreted as dis
loyalty to the United States.
"Out of the loins of a Fenian ar
rested in arms against the English
came. I was nursed at the breasts
of as true an Irish woman as ever
came out of Ireland. Indelibly writ
ten in my soul is the story of Eng
lands rule of blood and iron in Ire
land.
"But what has that to do with the
honor of my own country? Incl
dentally and accidentally, we may be
fighting for England, just as England
is now fighting for US, but essentially
and fundamentally we are not fight
ing. for England; we r fighting for
ourselves.
clad Germany by it's own overt
acts, repeated again and again, not
ade it impossible for us to keep
peace with honor, had she respected
our rights, had she not murdered our
citizens, she might have beaten Eng
land to her knees and we would not
have interfered.
eve did not 60 to war to save
England, I'VE went to war to save
ourselves, to save u sovereign
rights, to save rights, to save all
and everything that "a nation in hon.
or prizes.
"You men of all births, for there
are men of many bloods and births
bearing a grievance against England,
in your blind desire for retribution,
you forget that in this war all must
stand or fall together. If England
stands, we stand; if England falls,
we fall; victory and honor or defeat
and dishonor shall come upon all
alike.
"And God forbid that there should
be any so base and low and blinded
as to wish to strike at the heart of
England through the soul of their
own country. God forbid that there
should be any who would rejoice at
the losses of any of the Allies when
they know that such losses NEAR only
greater losses and multiplied deaths
among you. Let this insanity pass
forever from these States.
GAS you leave this holy place, some
perchance to never return, two WIS.,
ions, two. memories, I would stamp
indelibly upon your soldier souls. The
first is Christ upon the Cross, His
arms outstretched toward you in in
finite love, bruised, bleeding, cruel
fled, triumphing over sin and death
to make you free.
"The other is that most heroic fig
ure of all these terrible times, Car
dinal Mercier, van Of countenance
and worn of body, yet with spirit I'M
broken and undimmed he stands
amidst the ruins of his devastated
and desolated country, his sons MUIR
dered, his daughters violated, his
children CARRIED into captivity, his
homes laid waste, every lash that
falls upon his conquered people cut
ting thrice deep into his very soul,
yet undaunted, unterrifed, unbro-
ken, he faces his oppressors and says
to them:
"'Draw your plans, set up your
batteries, arrange your movements,
propose as you will, but God will
ultimately dispose. My conviction,
both natural and supernatural, of
our ultimate victory is more fully
rooted in my soul than ever.