The Irish standard., 1920-03-13
An English Priest
To His COuntrymen

of war dragooning us into submissive !
ness? If Germany said to us: I'VE
have conquered you, so you must be
resigned to your fate, to our author-'
ity; you must accept the conditions
we lay down to you as victors; we
are here for your welfare; you must
obey u.s." we should laugh them to
scorn; we should repudiate her au-
thority; we should spurn her laws.
lreland's case is a parallel one. Ire
land says to English what England
would say to Germany under similar
conditions. When Garibaldi came to
England, he was cautioned by the
British government not to show any
sympathy to the Irish revolutionaries.
England knew we'll enough that Carl
baldi, himself a herald of revolt, felt
keen sympathy for Ireland strug-
Cling to emancipate herself from the
shackles Of English despotism. Eng
land idolized and society lionized this
great revolutionary Garibaldi; yet
when greater and nobler heralds Of
revolt arose in Ireland they were
speedily dispatched to the prison or
the scaffold. Yet they both fought
for the same principles. England can
onizes the Italian patriot and damns
the Irish patriot.
Ireland poured out her hearts blood
and all the riches of her soil side by
side with England on the blood-stained
soil of Flanders and Gallipoli. Ire
land, with magnificent generosity and
forgiveness sacrificed herself for the
British Empire during the Great War;
Ireland thereby saved England; yet
what return has England given to
Ireland? Nothing, but legacy of
lies, of broken promises and perfidy.
Yet England dares speak of fighting
for the rights and liberties bf small
nations. We are branded in the eyes
Of the world as liars and hypocrites.
| No wonder France is amazed at our
present treatment of Ireland. No
wonder America hesitates to sign the
peace treaty; American independence
owed so much to the sons of Ireland.
They remember, too, Englands treat
ment of America before 1916. When
the Normans conquered England, they
started to create a United States in
England, but England, from the first
time she set foot upon Irish soil,
sought only to foment strife and ex-
terminate the Irish race. During the
reign of Queen Anne they invited
hundreds of German Palatines over to
Ireland. Ireland was made the dump
ing ground for the poor, bloated and
brainless sons of our English aristoc-
racy. For long centuries England has
sought to hamper and cripple Irish
trade and commerce. Never once has
she allowed Ireland a free hand in
trade and industry. If we read
Lecky's history of England in the
eighteenth century, we shall see in
letters of blood and fire England's
| uupuA dAlCl4cu 1CCO1u VI Iylduuy duu
robbery against the sons of Erin.
There is not single bright page in
the history Of England's treatment of
Ireland. Ireland has nothing to thank
England for. The Reformation (fool-
ish and ill-chosen word) was carried
out so thoroughly in Ireland that
their fourishing towns sank into
ruins and her people lay dead in thou
sands upon the fields. Queen Eliza
beth was told that she had nothing to
reign over in Ireland save ashes and
rotting carcasses.
Ireland will yet be the rock upon
which the British Empire will be
shattered. 1, for one, am willing to
pour out my hearts blood in defense
of Ireland, for the rights, the liberty,
the honor of that great-souled nation
whose cheerfulness, wit and generos-
ity, centuries of famine, war and mis-
rule have never been able to extin-
guish nor impair the strength and
elasticity of their physical power.