The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-03-29
BRIEF ADDRESS DELIVERED BY
REV. r. HUGHES AT THE ST.
PATRICK'S DAY BANQUET IN
MANkATO, MINI. IRELAND
ENTITLED TO ERMi-
NATION.

American citizens of Irish birth or
extraction, conscious of duty well
done, and rejoicing in the recent vic
tory to which their loyalty and BRAY
cry on the battlefield largely cOntri-
buted, celebrate today with more than
usual enthusiasm the feast Of Ire
lands patron Saint. What Ireland, as
a nation. suffered for the faith st.
Patrick planted in it makes the COM
memoration of his names day a ma
tional as we'll as a religious feast.
Happily for his spiritual children the
rising sun of justice flooding the
world with light and dissipating the
gloom of oppressiOn's night gives
promise of the glorious day when she
with other small nations shall be re-
leased from the political letters in
which they have SO long suffered.
Now when the smoke of battle is
cleared away, and the Shrek Of burst
ing shells no longer disturbs our de-
alterations, thoughtful men, seeing
through a mist of tears the ruin that
war has left in it's wake, find appal-
ling the magnitude of the misfortune
it has inflicted upon the world. In
France, at Versailles, where the best
intellects of the civilized nations of
the world will convene, the great ques-
ton which will loom large above all
others at the Peace Table is not the
indemnity the vanquished shall pay,
nor how the devastated lands shall be
reconstructed, but what means of pro-
lection shall be adopted to prevent the
recurrence of such calamity as the
recent war has inflicted upon human
| ity.
Gradually the cause of the war is
| beginning to manifest itself. Men
are coming to see that it was not a
struggle for supremacy between rival
| nations; but the clash of two irrecon-
cilable ideas In our day these two
Numerically opposed ideas met on
| the battlefelds in deadly conflict. Be
could be no reconciliation. An essen
tiaI difference separated them far as
pole from pole. The triumph OF the
one must be the death of the other.
| AutOcracy was never in undisputed
possession Of the sovereignty which a
few men claimed over the multitude
of their felloW-men. From time i'm
memorial democracy, which is another
name for the voice Of the multitude,
pleaded for the inalienable rights of
humanity, the freedom WhereWith
God has made man free. AutOcracy
and democracy continually fought for
recognition in every system of gov
eminent the world has ever known.
History shows wherever fate denied
to a generous and noble people the
blessing Of freedom, fortune compen-
stated them by raising up in their
midst heroes who worshipped at Lib
erty'S shrine, generous, noble advO-
Gates Of human rights who III OPP
pression's darkest hour kept the lamp
of hope trimmed and burning.
In war bravery is always admirable,
even when victory is not obtained. A
glory whose splendor is not dimmed
by defeat is the reward of those who
fall fighting for a just and sacred
cause OF this fact Belgium furnishes
a striking example. Her army beaten,
her cities burned and her land devas-
tated; nevertheless among the nations
of the earth she holds d place Of
honor, because of the courage with
which she resisted the invading foe
For four long years Belgium groaned
bruised and crushed under the heel
of a merciless tyrant; but in the
darkest hour of her dire distress,
worldwide sympathy sustained her,
and the noise of allied armies hurry