Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-04-28
FRANKLIN AND THE IRISH
EDITOR EVENING NEWS:

your able editorial on the life of
BENJAMIN Franklin, and the honor
paid his memory by the citizens OF
Perth Amboy on the occasion of the
passing of a statue of the distin-
gulshed patriot through III city
last week.
Lives of great men all remind
us And it would be well indeed
in this our day, when the necessity
Of true Americanism is so great,
were we to devote more time to
the history of our country, instead
of listening to the twaddle of self
styled philosophers, who try to lead
us to believe that our ship of state
will be wrecked unless we steer a
course directly opposite to the one
which Franklin and the fathers set.
Benjamin Franklin was gifted with
many talents. He was. as is truth
fully said, the genius of the revolu-
ton; a sterling patriot; q great
lover of liberty and an intense
Halter of oppression.
That DR.. Franklin believed in the
necessity of preparation is proven
by his first public mission on be-
half of the colonies. While the life
of Franklin is q mere by-word with
o Of our people, yet, strange to
say, few histories of our day, give
any account of his first public mis-
sion on behalf of American indie
pendence. Hence, Mr.. Editor,
your humble servant requests space
in your valuable paper that | may
in my own humble way give a brief
description, the object in view and
the results attained.
In seventeen hundred and sixty
nine. or six years before the out
break Of the American revolution.
DR.. Franklin sailed for Ireland
the object of his visit, as stated by
himself. being to create a good an
derstanding with the people of Ire
land. and to enlist their aid in the
coming struggle for independence.
How well he succeeded is evidenced
fl TOM the fact that at the outbreak
Of hos.ilitieS sever years later, no
less than nine men of Irish birth and
decent, signed the American Dec
laration of Independence and the
very first aid that came to the
struggling patriots from abroad
was regiment of five thousand men
composed exclusively of Irishmen
and men of Irish blood. This reg
iment was under the command of
Count Arthur Dillon, and set sail
from Brest, France, shortly after
the commencement of hostilities,
and continued in the fight until the
British surrendered at Yorktown.
This regiment landed on American
soil and vas in the thick of the fight
long before the noble Lafayette ar
rived, and, as a further result of
DR.. Franklin's visit, we find that
tbirty-eight per cent of Washing
tons army were Irishmen.
/ am relating historical facts and
I,..n No 1aCiYA TO hhlitt1n ON LOT ,naf
from the glory due the noble La
fayette, the gallant Poles, and the
brave men of other races who gave
up their livevs or rather imperiled
them as an evidence that freedom
crushed in the old world might be
triumphant in the new.
AS stated, Franklin's first mis-
sion had to do with the insisting of
the support Of the Irish and, while
it is generally supposed by most
people that the regiment referred
to were French, history shows that
they were Irish.
DR.. Franklin remained in ireland
quite some time and he describes
his visit as one of the most happy
periods of his life. In later years
he visited London and Paris. He
was assured by the people of Ire
land of hearty support and in addi-
ton had the promise of the ele-
quent Edmond Burke then a mern-
Der of the British House of Parlia-
ment, to plead the cause of the col
onies before that body. and how
well Burke fulfilled his promise, his
tory reveals. All through the strug-
gle Burke's voice resounded
through the House of Parliament
on behalf of justice to the colonies
and at the close of the war he blunt
ly told King George and his British
cohorts that the excessive cruelties
perpetrated on the people of Ire
land had cost them the loss of
America.
DIR. Franklin pledged the Irish
people the aid of America in their
efforts to throw off the oppressor's
yoke and is it not more than a mere
coincident that the statue of the
great patriot should pass through
our city 1872 years after his visit
to Ireland, and at a time when gen.
erous America was giving to her
utmost to a fund to appease hunger
and misery in I~reland-a condi-
ton forced upon the unhappy
people by England, the so-called
apostle of humanity, and as our
friend the scribe from Matawan
Wouiu AVE H. the SItdlGSI poWti
for good in the world today.
/ have no desire to discuss the
Irish question. The gun is loaded
and it is a dangerous thing to mon
Ney with. Suffice to say, however,
that the pages of history contains
no more degrading OF debasing
spectacle than England's mode of
warfare in Ireland at present. to
say nothing of the past . An English
labor commission, composed of
members of parliament investigated
the charge of British atrocities in
Ireland and declared in their re-
port that conditions in ireland were
a stencil in the nostrils of civiliza-
ton. We have also the report of
two American commissions and
their finding fully c~orroborate
their findings of the British labor
commission. In addition fully four
fifths of the English people them
selves denounce the methods of
warfare perpetrated by the govern
ment of England on a poor, de-
~fenseless, unarmed people.
The question of recognition of
the Republic of Ireland is now be-
fore the American people, as bills
pertaining to this has been already
introduced in both houses of con-
gress and the question can safely
rest with congress and the Ameri-
can people-a people. the most
fair minded and most generous on
earth.
JAMES J. RYAN.