The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-10-05

| at banquet or a funeral whether in
| paying tribute to living empire
| builder or to dead hero he poured
| forth his encomiums without stint or
reserve. He cared nothing for the
was question of giving credit and
honor to whom credit and honor are
due.
His first act on entering public
| life was to go to the war to preserve
| inviolate the Union; his last public
act, to save the country from inva-
| sion, was to speed our soldiers to
| France with words of patriotic fire.
1t was in obedience to his sense of
| patriotism that lie spoke out for
stable currency and against those po-
litical experiments which are rather
| revolutionary than evolutionary of
the traditional system of our coun-
| try. His confidence in the molding
| powers of the country was unbounded
| He therefore thought that fve-year
| sojourn in the land was enough to
test the candidate for citizenship and
that the captious literacy test should
not he adopted, at least in the case of
| the brawny Slav and the art loving
| Italian. In the present crisis the mar
VelouS Outburst of patriotism from the
| sons of millions of immigrants has
justified his opinion. No one saw
| clearer than he the deficiencies of
any human institution, whether a
/ e0h II
government. But he preferred to ap-
| preciate the good in them rather than
to parade their shortcomings. The
| Divine Master, it is said, without de-
nouncing the popular ideal of the
restoration of Israers kingdom, made
1t the starting point of His preaching
and gradually purged it from the dross
with which it was overlaid If this
saying be true, in the treatment of
popular ideals He had not for nine
teen centuries more faithful disciple
than the Archbishop of st. Paul.
The Man.
| Far-visioned, resolute, daring, with
his fine presence and forceful elo-
quence, he won a nationwide follow
ing and stirred up nationwide
opposition. There is nothing novel
in the idea of legislating for the re.
straint of appetite and for the fusion
of nationalities. The Church has
legislated for both from time immemo-
rial and with undoubted success
What was novel in his campaign for
total abstinence was the summoning
by an ecclesiastic besides spiritual
the forces of public opinion, popular
movements, state legislation and such
like to obtain results. The Archbishop
was we'll aware that these are dan
gerous forces to stir up, but he con
tended that these were the very forces
the enemy was using, and then it was
only right to turn them against him
The issue of the long contest was that
liquor and the liquor traffic were dis
countenanced by the thought and
legislation of the Church. The issue
of the nationality question was thai
foreign-born Catholics obtained {
measure of parochial liberty and 'as
: similation" became the watchword o.
Catholics in America. We are only
now awakening to the powerful for
eign influences which in all those
: years were behind the opposition tt
the Archbishop. A few striking events
of his life may now be recalled.
: In the varying fortunes of a tumul
tuous life Archbishop Ireland was {
J. man who might be put down, but wht
never stayed down. After the publ
cation of the Encyclical on Ameri
6 canism he left Rome in defeat; aftel
I speaking at the unwilling of the statue
! of Lafayette in Paris he returned tt
, Rome in triumph. The promised ap
3 pointment to the Hague Peace Confer
+ ence was withdrawn but he was able
6 to dictate the final appointment. HI
$ risked his popularity at home by try
\ ing to prevent the war with Spain
The war after the explosion of tn
!, ! Maine was not to be stopped and h,
= lost prestige abroad. He regained j
= by his work in arranging for tn
Philippine Commission.
BY the influence of ungrateful Spail
;, and other factors he was excluded
:. from the larger councils of the Churcl
during the last pontificate; but thi
exclusion only opened another Quite
for his energy and he astonished tn
! world by building in a decade of year
| two cathedrals. He was always game
| He carried his plea for his rights t
the highest court in the land and hi
plea for the honor of his episcopa
dignity to the highest court in tn
Church, and he won in both. Arcf
u bishop Ireland was honored and love
I by the great men of the past. Anon
L these were Blaine, Cleveland, Hanna
I Allison, A. NJ. Sullivan, Rampolla, So
G TOLL, Leo XIII. The living may spea
(, for themselves. He made hosts c
q friends and never lost one; his idea
It made opponents but he in time Wo
/ them over or answered them all.
$ As an instance of his influence i
q France, it may be mentioned that tn
n College of Meximieux, where he wa
n educated, was the only one in til
D. whole country that was spared fro1
$ the general confiscation.
# Gifts and Characters.
s. That he was ambitious is granted