The Irish standard., 1919-03-01
- SS0t 20
IA -. -. just becau Il /
He has been the n,
she Carnegie Peace T I.
' mtl'innr V 'oll.rs ~ :.
); (. 4tes an "ol
xandist. Il. :
Jourra al M ."s.s 's' )
toricarFact4
ments of J. A.

Editor: With your permission wish
to reply to the letter of j. A. Thomas
of Chamberlain, S. D., on England
and Ireland" He accuses the Irish
people of unfairness in their attitude
toward Great Britain. He demands
definite statements by those who ask
the privilege of speaking for the Irish.
am an American by birth, but my
father was a native of Ireland.
shall try to accommodate Mr.. Thomas.
Mr. Thomas says: "A certain CORE.
spondent declared the English had
been unjust to Ireland. deny this
allegation. She has been most liberal
in her treatment of Ireland, Scotland
and Wales" l trust Mr.. Thomas will
consider the Encyclopedia Britannica
among the very best of British au-
thorities. 1t is certainly not partial
to the Irish. If he will glance through
Volume XIII, pages 214 to 272, he will
find a list of lreland's grievances that
should make him shudder. After Oil
YER Cromwells ten years of butchery
there were, according to the census
figures given in this British author
ity, only 500,091 people left in Ireland.
Cromwell intended to- exterminate the
race. Britannica shows that he almost
succeeded in doing so and marvels
that SO many people were left. The
records of old Dublin Castle show that
more old men, women and children
the province of Connaught during
those ten years than the total number
of lives lost by the north during our
great civil war How do the figures
in the Belgium tragedy compare with
this record? For 20 years, with the
| exception of the relatively small num-
Der who were willing to give up their
faith, the people of Ireland were not
legally allowed to hold religious serv-
ices. Their clergymen were hunted
like wolves and were shot down in
could blood when they attempted to ad-
minister to the spiritual needs of
their nocks A bounty Of $50 per head
was placed on the head of priest
and on the head Of schoolmaster, the
same as we offer bounties on wolves
Priests could not be legally educated
in their native country. Churches,
schools, hospitals and asylums were
confiscated or destroyed. The people
of the Catholic faith could not vote,
could not hold office, could not enter
the professions or possess property.
They could not engage in the trades,
in the professions or in commerce.
They could not take mortgage for
the security of loan. Their children
were forbidden to be educated in for
eign countries. Thousands Of Irish
boys and girls were taken forcibly
from their parents and were sent to
the West Indies and other British COL
onies, where they were sold as slaves.
Eighteen million of the 22,O00,000
acres of land in Ireland were forcibly
taken from the lawful owners and
given to people who came from Eng
and the Scotland. We do not recol-
lect that such wholesale confiscation
of property has ever at any time taken
place in any other country in the
world. You will find all these facts in
Britannica, Mr.. Thomas. You cannot
very well object to my authority. You
can handle these statements without
gloves" If you care to do so.
But this is not all, Mr.. Thomas.
Britannica says British laws were such
as to make Ireland the least law
abiding country in Europe. Britannica
will inform you that the Irish wooden,
linen. hemp. metal and other indus
tries were suppressed by England and
that commerce in the south and west
of Ireland could not do otherwise than
languish. The Irish were forbidden
to ship their wool or their meats to
England, to her colonies or to conti-
mental Europe. The landlords, to