THE EMERALD ISLE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 25, 18 October 1873, Page 13

THE EMERALD ISLE.

Ob Ireland fboh Faibhead To Caps Clear. (Catholic Standard.) TH«E* are few countries in the world that can furnish a richer store of materials for the historian, the philosopher, the poet, the man of observation, and particularly the thoughtful Catholic, than Ireland. To prove this we need only refer to Father Burkes Lectures. If we take history we shall End that the annals of Ireland furnish facts and incidents that teach us deep lessons on questions touching the variety ot races, the methods of governing, the policy of statesmen, and the evils of oppression. a If 7* ke pOetry we Bhall find thafc Inland furnishes many theme* for the man instinct with poetic feelings. The early periods with their memories of the Kings, the Bards, the Warriors, the Saints, tne Scholars and the People of ancient Erin, or the Middle Aces, replete with narratives of the gallant, long continued resistance of a iS ' w j broads of the Anglo Normans, full of tales of stately aDDeys, lofty and embattled castles, mountain fortresses and secluded Tetreats ; both these periods ©f history abound with the most picturesflue and interesting narratives. Coming down to more modern times we have the attempts to toree the Reformation on Ireland, the Elizabethan devastations, the t-romwellian settlement and the Penal Laws. And even in our own day* what scenes present themselves to the consideration of a thoughtful man. Is there any country in the world save Ireland, that could furnish more pathetic incidents to move the great heart of humanity We see in Ireland a country that is inhabited by a bright, intelligent people, a people whose religious faith is strong, and whose domestic feelings are deep. Yet thia people is doomed to see , established in "L» e j y 8t an<J BU PP orfced b y their funds, a Church, which ihey regarded not only as false but as anti-national, not only as heretical, I but aa alien. Their faith was outraged by its doctrines, their nationality offended by its origin, their poverty insulted by its wealth, tneir domestic feelings wounded through the operations of its laws. Ana this Alien Church was supported for three long centuries, it was impoMd on the people by force, maintained by power, resisted with perseverance, and only overthrown a few years ago. During the period of ltsdomination it produced the levies of tithes, and heartless evictions. What suffering was caused at various times by levies and evictions only God knows. But we know there has been enough to furnish materials for many a pathetic narrative. But there are other events that can be described. The Angel of De*th has moved over the green fields of Erin many a time and oft. The black year of Famine, when the land lay as if cursed by a malediction from Heaven, and the poor perished in thousands, has not yet been forgotten, nor yet the enormous Exodus which followed it and which swept whole legions of people over the Atlantic, some to die on the voyage, some to perish amongst strangers, Borne to be shipwrecked on bleak coasts, come to sink into the abysses of the ocean, but more, thank God, to reach the Land of Promise, and by their strong arms and willing hands to build up for themselves homes under the starry banner of free America. But not only does the historian and the poet find ample material tor the exercise of their respective abilities in the rich, store of incident that Ireland affords, but also the philosopher. The social, moral, and economical sciences can gain much by a study of Irish peculiarities as developed under the peculiar circumstances of the country. Take political economy, for instance, and we see in Ireland how a country can be kept poor, how its resources can be left undeveloped, and how its manufactures can be repressed. It is a stern lesson, but one that ought to be studied by every Irishman and by everyone who is anxious for the welfare of the human race. Ireland has harbors, resourcas and a fertile soil, and should be wealthy. It is not so, and the reasons ought to be known. The thoughtful Catholic should fool an interest in Ireland. Its Catholicity dates from the Council of Ephesus and is still active. The" persecutions that religion has undergone ia Ireland and the present state and condition of the faith in thafc country are both deeply interesting, and have been brought prominently forward by the late consecration of the Island to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so beautifully illustrated by the poem of Denis Florence McCarthy, published three weeks ago in the • Catholic Standard.' Ireland has a great part to play in the future of the Catholic. Church, perhaps eveu greater than what it played in the past. And what is the outcome of Irish history ? Is the old race ex'tincfe or enfeebled? Has its nationality become a dream, and is its faith forgotten ? Our readers know to the contrary. St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in every clime as the combined religious and national feast of the Irish people. When the faith and traditions of Ireland were insulted by the Zeogli judgment, the whole country w,as xn a blaze of indignation, and when an orator like Father Burke arises, Who can touch the bidden founts of feeling, it is plainly seen by all that the old race »ti!l lives, and that the great Celtic heart still beats responsive to eloquent words, as its horn of old answered to tho skilful hand of the bard. For these reasons we propose, in this and the following sketches, to give accounts of the historical incidents, famous personages, celebrated places, scenery and legends of Ireland, together with, the characteristic of its people. The People and ihsir Antiquity. .An Island so beautiful must have been early inhabited, but by what race of men, and in what stage of civilization are questions of the deepest interest and of no less obscurity. That it was before the Christian era seems admitted by all the learned men. The traditions, annals, genealogies, and legends of Ireland give details of many events, ■which reach back to the most remote date known to colonization, viz : Noah's Flood ! But, however absurd this may appear to a sneering critic there must be some truth underlying all these details. Two things are certain as regards Irish History — and the first is that Ireland was very early peopled, as early, if not earlier, than Great Britain, and that it possessed inhabitants that had obtained great proficiency itt some of the arts of civilization. This is manifest by two facts : its

early architecture and its 'primitive religion. In Ireland there can be shown ancient remains which, in point of strength of vustness, are not to be excelled by those of any other country, save probably those of China. The Cyclopean remains of the fortresses of Aileach, Cahir Conree, Dun Aengus, at once impress the mind with awe and veseration. The beholder will be skeptical indeed when he is told that bar-* barians or savages raised these mighty piles. Aileach, once the royal fortress and oft the royal seat of Ulster, the Acropolis of Deny, Columbkille (Londonderry), is on the top of a mountain eight hundred feet above the sea level : Cahir Conree is' situated on the top of a hill in one of the most mountainous parts of Kerry, and Dun Aengus overhangs the Atlantic, above which it is perched on the top of one of the moat precipitous cliffs of Arran. The stone* composing these structures, albeit not hewn or polished with the labor shown in the monuments of Borne or Egypt, from their vast masses, must have required, on the part of thuse who quarried them and raised them to their present positions in these mountain citadels, a knowledge of mechanics unsurpassed by the most learned engineers or builders of the present day. In Aileach there are gateways, doorways, ramparts and galleries passing through the middle of its mighty walls. Under ite shadow must have risen one of the ancient cities of Ireland, one of the Regia*, perhaps, of Ptolemy. There are scores of gigantic earthworks throughout the island, some of them capable of holding small armies, and constructed with a skill unexcelled by anything of the kind, whether ancient or modern. Leaving the military monuments of our pagan forefathers, we come to the funereal, and we find that the pyramids of New Grange are only excelled in sice by the pyramids of Egypt. v As regards its early religien, we find that in Ireland there are traces of sun worship, of sacrifices, of every early tradition. And these two fusts, mysterious and ancient buildings and early religions traditions, prove the early settlement of the land which was anciently known as Ogygia, or laisfail, or Eire, or as the " Isle of Mists," and more recently as Ireland.