Arizona republican., 1922-03-18

January OF this year we saw the first
4 tangible sign of the restoration OF
/ Gaelic civilization in Western Eur
| one. 1t is a thousand years since the
| Danes built and occupied the castle
and it is exactly ESQ years since the
1 Anglo -Normans began the estaonsh-
4 ment Of a Norman supremacy IN the
/ Ireland of the Gaels. For seven and
one-half centuries this castle mas
! been to Irishmen the symool OF VT
| amy in defeat, the froWning ouiWdIh
! of newer civilization 1ealousIy
guarding the land which was won ana
held by the sheer force OF plood anu
steel.
"This period Of $50 years forms
/ definite division in the history OF Ire
land which links the great Gaelic ira
/ dition of a past, long antedatinS lhe
coming Of Christ and the unknown
destiny which the future holds IN
store for emancipated Ireland. Inc
pages of that story reveal a struggle
of amalgamation vs.. eXtermlnatlon.
The blood Of many races came into
Ireland during the thousand years
! since the Danish invasion, and with
| Incredible sWiftness these people
analoamated with the native irish oy
marriage, adoption OF language and
custom until these new made lrlsh-
men became more irish than the irish
themselves. The illustrious names
which this period has produced show
a surprising number of foreign names
whose bearers would have been IN
suited il considered less rlshmen
than the OBriens or O'Tooles. On the
other hand, England has increasingly
carried on a campaign of extermina-
tion. Her weapons were legislation,
the sword. economic pressure and last
but bv far the most nearly succeSsful,
the policy of peaceful penetration or
the Anglicising of the Irish, a policy
Greatly favored by Gladstone and des-
perately resisted by the Sein Fein.
The fact that today there are more
than 20,000,000 people of Irish blood
scattered broadcast over the world
while there are slightly more than A.
on0 0OO left in Ireland, shows how
near determination came to its goal.
Rut the more significant fact that
England turned over Dublin castle TO
a government headed and largely
built ND by a man bearing the not
esnecially Irish name of Arthur Grit
fifth shows that amalgamation has
finally won out. This sorrowful past
will never be forgotten, but TINS 81.
Patrick's Day ushers in an era IN
which time will heal the ugly WOUNDS
Fin the Irish heart and forgiveness will
smooth the way of the Irish Free
. state as a free and equal partner IN
! that great scheme Of government, the
/ British commonwealth of free ma
tions.
Future Hopeful.
"This sudden coming of peace has
} left the nation in q dazed condition
} and we have just seen in the Dan
Eirean able men Volumlnously argu-
ing the academic question of whether
! a new government shall be called
/ 'republic' or Free State But give
, these men a little grace; let the
smoke Of battle drift little farther
away and the same men will see with
that same keenness and clarity OF
I vision which directed them to their
present success. Two things are very
hopeful in the present political out
/ look. Sein Fein has been staunchly
: Unanimous and increasingly preaching
that great principle Of government by
! the consent of the governed How
can the opposition justify themselves
: to their countrymen If at the coming
b general election the nation declares
: itself in favor Of the Free StateI NO
; man can speak ex-cathedra and de-
clare that the nation will vote that
way. but the great convention of Sein
Fein held recently in Dublin. had a
political Significance which decidedly
reflected the popular mind in deer
sympathy with the new government
Secondly, no Irishman of the past has
a stronger influence on the policies
and methods of the Sein Fein organ
ization than Thomas Davis. His ad'
monitions have been a striking part o.
its gospel and we find among almos
Eo1, I4n nj
patriot wrote these: The future Il
ours for good If we are perservering
intelligent and braye-for i'll If W.
quarrel. slumber or shirk.' IT woulC
hardly seem logical that men WHIT
faithfully followed the teachings o
Davis through the perils of war woult
scrap them during the even more haz
ardous days of the early peace.
Now the aims OF the resurrectet
Irish nation are rather interesting. U
course first there is natural nationa
political aspirations of lrlshmen 70 b.
governed by Irishmen in an Irish way
but the interesting thing is to try anC
see the possible results that will com
out of the unshackled spirit Of tn
nation. It seems TO be generally con
ceded that Ireland's role among tn
4 nations of the world from an eco
nomic or purely political standpoin
will be comparatively insignificant
But Irishmen have been thinking an
are now thinking whether Ireland
spiritual and intellectual influenc
will not be considerably out OF pro
I portion to her dininuative physics
size. From the sixth to the ninth cen
4 turies Irish missionaries were TO b
found throughout Western Europ
playing a very large part in til
Il christianiziny of these lands Ireland
share in keeping the torch OF learn
ing aglow during those years was
very large one, and the little islam
which then won the title Of the isl
OF saints was also renound as tn
home of a brilliant culture and tn
land of famous universities. 1t
strange to see in the records OF thes
peaceful days accounts of the arriva
in Irish ports of ships from England
not filled with soldiers and the imped
iments of war, but English yout
bound for the Irish universities fo
m their education. Take the word c
- these modern Jrishmen, G. B. Shav
w. B. Yeates. Synge, Padraic Collin
and a long list of almost equally well
known IriShmen: what an unusuali
large influence these men are havin
on the materialistic thought of th
present day. Scholars are just be
ginning to probe the almost untappe
bodies OF energy and beauty whic
the great Gaelic tradition has in stor
and the potentialities of the influenc
which this work will bear on the art
and thought of the future are by II
means insignificant.
Past Is Significant.
"A glimpse at the development {
Ireland during the past rs years WI
n &I4A ell