The Irish standard., 1918-08-31
THE IRISH STANDARD

marked "by every horror and every
shame that could disgrace the rela-
tons between a strong country and a
weak one"
Sold to the Prussians.
After an orgy of Martial Law the
Scottish General, Abercromby, Com
mander-in-Chief in Ireland, wrote:
Every crime, every cruelty that
could be committed by Cossacks
of Calmucks, has been transacted
| here. * The abuses of
all kinds l found can scarcely be
| believed or enumerated'
| Lord Holland records that many
people were sold at so much head
to the Prussians."
We shall, therefore, pass by the
| story of the destruction of our manu-
features, of artificial famines, of the
| fermentation Of uprisings, of hun
| dred Coercion Acts, eliminating in
the perpetual Act of Repression, OBJ
| tanned by forgery, which graced
Queen Victoria's Jubilee Year in 1887
In our island the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act, the repression of
| free speech, gibbetings, shootings,
and bayonetings, are commonplace
| events. The effects of forced emigra-
ton and famine American generosity
has softened; and we do not seek a
| verdict on the general merits of a
system which enjoys the commenda-
ton of no foreigner except Albert,
Prince Consort, who declared that the
Irish "were no more worthy of SYM
pathy than the PoIes."
| 1t is known to you how our popu-
lation shrank to it's present fallen
| state. Grants of money for emigra-
ton, Especially of families were
provided even by the Land Act of
1887. Previous Poor Law Acts had
stimulated this remedy" So late as
1891 a "Congested District" Board
| was empowered to laid emigration"
| although millions Of Irishmen had in
the Nineteenth Century been evicted
from their homes or driven abroad.
Seventy years ago our population
stood at eight millions, and in the
normal ratio of increase, it should to-
| day amount to sixteen millions. In
| stead it has dwindIed to four-and-a-
half millions; and it is to be deIiv-
cred up in such measure as the STRAIT
| egists of the English War Cabinet
may demand.
Today, as in the days of George
Washington, nearly half the American
forces have been furnished from the
descendants of our banished race. If
England could not during your Rev
olution, regard that enrolment with
satisfaction, might she not set some
| thing now to Ireland's credit from the
| racial composition of your Army and
Navy? No other small nation has
been SO bereft by law of her children
| but in vain for Ireland has the bread
of exile been thrown upon the wa
| tiers.
"SeIf-Determination."
Yet while Self-Determination is re-
fused, we are required by law to bleed
| to "make the world safe for democ-
racy"-in every country except our
own. Surely this cannot be the
meaning of Americas message to
| mankind glowing from the pen of her
iIIustrous President?
In the $50 years during which a
stranger sway has blighted Ireland,
her people have never had occasion
to welcome an unselfish or generous
deed at the hands of their rulers.
Every so-called concession" was but
the loosening of a fetter Every ben
eft sprang from a manipulation Of
our own money by a foreign Treasury
denying us an honest audit of ac-
counts. None was yielded as an act
of grace. All we're the offspring of
constraint, tumult, or political neccs-
sity. Reason and argument fell on
| deaf ears"
!! To England the Union has brought
enhanced wealth, population, power,
and Importance; to ireland Increased
taxation, stunted industries, swollen
| emigration, and calIous officiaIism.
| Possessing in this land neither NOR
al nor intellectual prominence, ror
any prestige derived from past merit
or present esteem, the British Execu-
tive claims to restrain our liberties,
control our fortunes, and exercise
over our people the power of life and
death.
Favortes' Defiance Condoned.
To obstruct the recent Home Rule
Bill it allowed it's favorites to defy
it's Parliament without punishment,
!, to import arms from suspect regions
with impunity, to threaten ito break