The Irish standard., 1918-12-14
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not even alluQo TO the great CIVIC
services they have rendered their
adopted country, or to the military
support they gave in the Mexican war,
the Civil war, the Spanish-American
and the recent great war; rather shall
I dwell upon what they did in the
revolutionary period towards fashion
ing this great republic of the west,
and preparing it for its high destiny.
In Colonial Days.
Long before the revolutionary war,
men and women of Ireland were forced
to flee from their native shores to the
new world. One Of the first American
settlements of the Irish was in Mary
land, where, under Lord Baltimore,
they crowned themselves with imper-
ishable glory by being the first settle
ment in America, where liberty, civil
and religious, was practiced. This,
too, at time when others who had
fed from persecution in Europe perse-
cuted, in turn, their weaker brothers.
In Pennsylvania, New England, New
York and New Jersey the Irish settled
in thousands in the seventeenth CEN
fury, and contributed in no small man
ner towards making ready their adopt
ed land for it's future independence.
In 1858, Thomas Dongan, Earl of Linn
erick, an Irish Catholic, was appointed
governor of New York. Like Lord
Baltimore, he was opposed to religious
persecution. The first act passed by
the assembly which he convoked, de-
clared that mo person or persons who
profess faith in God by Jesus Christ,
shall at any time be anyways molested,
punished or disquieted; but that all
and every such person or persons may
from time to time and at all times,
freely have and fully enjoy his or their
judgments or consciences, in matters
of religion, throughout all the prov
ince."
Those old Irish pioneers seem to
have had monopoly on that religious
tolerance and liberty which is now one
of the pillars of the constitution.
In the years Immediately preceding
| the Revolution, men from Galway,
Limerick, Cork, Waterford and other
Irish counties fled to America, and
brought with them the longing, stifed
| in Ireland, to be free. It was they
and their descendants who helped to
enkindle the fires of the Revolution,
and provided before long an oppor-
tunity of avenging themselves upon
the despotism which had refused to
allow them to live in peace in their
native land.
For the Revolution.
During the few years before the
Revolution all thinking Americans saw
that an open break with England was
only matter of time. Thus it was
| that representatives of the colonists
sought to do what the Irish are doing
today-to enlist the sympathy of other
peoples with their cause. Benjamin
Franklin, writing from London in 1869,
stated, Gail Ireland is strongly in ia
vor of the American cause. I send you
four pamphlets written in Ireland, or
by Irishmen here, in which you will
| find some excellent well-said things"
Three years after he, visited Ireland,
| where he was honored by being al
lowed to sit at a meeting Of the Irish
parliament. Writing a little later to
William Franklin, he expresses the
hope that "our assemblies will hot fall
short Of them (the Irish) if any Irish
member should happen to be in our
country" Elsewhere, he says of some
of the Irish patriots, II found them
disposed to be friends of America, in
which endeavored to confirm them,
with the expectation that our grow
| ing weight might be thrown into one
SCALE" Over a stretch of $50 years
the shade of Franklin appeals to us
to keep his promise, and to throw our
weight into the scales of justice for
Ireland.
That the patriots of the Continental
congress recognized and appreciated
I the kindly feelings of the Irish to-
wards them and their cause is evident
from their address to the people of
Ireland dated Philadelphia, May TO-,
1775. The following are few excerpts
from it:
Friends and fellow subjects:
GAS the important contest into which
we have been driven has now become
interesting to every European state,
and particularly affects the members
of the British empire, we feel it our
duty to address you on the subject.
We are DESTROYS of possessing the good
opinion of the virtuous and humane.
We are particularly DESTROYS Of fur
nishing you with a true state Of our
motives and objects, the better to en-
able you to Judge of our conduct with