ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN CHRIST CHURCH.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1762, 7 April 1874, Page 2

ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN C HRIST CHURCH.

At the banquet in honor of St. Patrick's Da}', at which Irishmen of all shades of opinion assembled, Mr C. C. Bowen, R.M., made the following speech in proposing the toast " Our Native Land :"— Mr C. C. Bowen, R.M., on rising to propose the toast of the evening, was received with immense cheering. He said : I have now to propose the toasb of the evening — "Our Native Land." In a company Hke.thi3, I am not going to dilate upon the ordinary sentiments which are suggested by such a theme. : It will be far better to leave undisturbed by such common-places the tender recollections that arise- at the mention of ov.v early homes ; and while bearing testimony to the inspiring effect which such memories leave, we ought to brace ourselves to consider how far we may still rejoice that we have not lust our country, although far from the land of our birth. (Cheers.) What we have lost— what old associations have been broken vp — what traditional memories have waned away in the fierce eargerness of Colonial life we know too well. But it is good for us to consider, too, what we have gained, and how far we may enjoy the advantages of a new country without losing those which were our birthright in the old. (Loud cheer 3.) lam especially glad to be here to-night in an assemblage which represents every phase of opinion in the old country— (hear, hear) — because such a gathering is a proof that all of us have learned something through the larger education which changes of life and scene must bring. (Cheers.) How happy it would be for our countrymen at home if their minds could be for a time" weaned from brooding on traditions of ancient feuds and ancient wrongs, and bent on the practical improvement of tlieir country ! (Intense cheers.) Tt is wonderful bow small and petty some of the causes of strife appear when they are looked at from a new point of view, | and with a larger prospect spread before our eyes. Although we are far away from our native land, we have not lost our ancient citizenship— (cheers)— and we are, perhaps, more ready, from our experience, than we were before, to realise the privileges of belonging to a great empire. (Renewed cheers.) Patriotism — real patriotism — is a noble and soul-inspiring virtue, but it may be, and has been, narrowed into a very ignoble prejudice. Englishmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, who have never seen anything of other lands besides their own are too apt to consider it patriotic to despise all outside their own borders ; even to despise —or pretend to despise their own fellowcountrymen who happen to live in distant parts of the great Empire. It was such narrow patriotism as this that made the glory of Greece so short-lived, notwithstanding the brilliant — the immortal genius of one of its jealous little States. It was a larger and nobler patriotism that made Rome mistress of the world, and enabled her to stamp the impress of her slower but moro solid genius on every country then known. To come to our own day, it was a larger and nobler patriotism that led the various States of America, differing as they do in history, in origin, and in interests, to sacrifice everything else in the late war for the maintenance of unity. (Cheers.) Nor is such patriotism inconsistent with the most intense love for the special native land to .which each person may belong, for a wholesome pride in the native land is best shown by a generous rivalry with those born in the other parts of the Queen's dominions. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) Have Irishmen any reason to be ashamed of the part they have taken in the building up of the British Empire? Have they any reason to complain that they are unable to obtain a fair share in its struggles — in its victories — in its honors ? What need is there to multiply examples? We cannot but remember that at the great crisis in the fate of England and of Europe, the most eloquent voice in the British Parliament was that of Edmund Burke. (Cheers.) And that on the day big with the fate of Europe — the day that "shook the spoiler down," a Wellesley commanded the armies of England. (Cheers.) And now when the value of the dependencies and Colonies of Great Britain is beginning to be understood at lasf, who are the men representing the sovereign po«ver ? It is but yesterday that Great Britain and her Colonies were mourning the death of that high-spirited Irish statesman, Lord Mayo, who wielded so ably as Viceroy the sceptre of the Great Indian Empire. Who are to-day the Governors of the greatest Colonies ? I think it may be said that the first Colonies in rank are Canada, Victoria, and New South Wales. Well the Governor General of Canada is Lord Dufferin — he is an Irishman. (Cheers.) The Governor of Victoria is Sir George Bowen — he is an Irishman. (Renewed cheer.) The Governor of New South Wales is Sir Hercules Robinson, and he is an Irishman too. (Great cheering.) In a settlement like Canterbury, whose founders were led by a Godley and a FitzGerald, it is unnecessary to dwell upon the earnest part taken by Irishmen in the work of colonization. Looking back, it may be from time to time with a melancholy yearning for the old associations, yet never losing heart, we understand that though the colonising generation must ever have two homes — that of its birth and that of its sidoption— the duty of every man is first of all the country in which his lot is cast. It would be a poor tribute to the land of our birth to show ourselves useless in the land of our adoption. (Hear, jhear, aud cheers.) From century to century people of different nationalities have met in Ireland, but their descendants are all now Irishmen and Irishwomen. So, different nationalities are meeting now in New Zealand, and their descendants will all be New Zealanders. (Cieers.) Let us take care what blood is now infused into the growing nation, and that only the noble races may, so far as we can help it, be the progenitors of the future New Zealanders. (Renewed cheers.) As Irishmen, without losing their love of native land, are members of the great British Empire, so may our children, while loving the land of their birth, never be narrowed by insular prejudices or by the petty conceits naturally engendered in a small estate. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) Let us hrpe that, fortunate as ourselves, our children and our children's children, may be citizens of a world-wide Empire — and that more fortunate than us, they may be able, without leaving their father's home, to toast their native land. (Loud and prolonged cheering.)