ANGLO-NORMAN, AND IRISH CELT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 64, 18 July 1874, Page 9

ANGLO-NORMAN, AND IRISH CELT.

Ceetaini/? the author of the article " Poor Paddy," in your last number, has shewn that the swaggering tall bullies of the* English Press in Dunedin and elsewhere, who are so lavish of their accusations or insinuations against the Irish Celt, had better keep quiet on the subject of treachery and bloadthirstiness. It would be difficult to tell whether the Anglo-Norman or Irish Celtic race have furnished iv past ages the most numerous instances of base treachery and revolting cruelty. We may all congratulate ourselves that we did not live in these times. But it is unfair to judge any race oi* nation by the faults of certain individuals belonging to it. If the Irish Celt and AngloNorman have shewn great vices, they have botli of them also shewn great virtues. Some of the Jews were signers above all other sinners, and so it may be said of some Catholics in all countries and ages. For all that, the Catholic Church is prolific in holy man and wome a, and is regenerating the world. The attempts so industriously made by a portion of the English Press to parade and exaggerate the real or allegor] faults of poor Paddy, proceed no doubt in great part from the fucfc that Paddy, with all his faults, has adhered manfully to the grand old Church of the Apostles, and resisted every effort to bribe or force him from his allegiance to it. This ought to have raised Paddy in the estimation of modern Englishmen if they hid respect for the rare virtue of fidelity. Paddy has been faithful among the fuithl ?ss. He stuck to his creed when it was an object of derision and scorn among the great and learned in England, and when it was made the object of the most cruel persecution in Ireland. Ho bus now tho happiness of seeing that creed making its way rapidly among the highest of English families, and the moat accomplished of English scholars. He k-iows, and it is to him a great satisfaction to know, that the venerable mother of his Sovereign gave in her adhesion to it ere she passed from this transitory seene — rest her, God. But what useful purpose can it serve to institute any invidious or odious comparisons between the virtues or vices of the people of the different parts of the United Kingdom. Are we not all fellow subjects of the same Sovereign — G-od bless her — and do we not all profess to be followers of one divine master. The history of the past contains a sad record of dark crimes and absurd or vicious follies — committed both by Celr, and Anglo-Norman — the recollection of which ought to be a source of regret and shame to both. No one can doubt that the Irish Catholics have been for ages the victims of a grinding oppression under the Anglo-Norman rule. We all know that it is of the nature of oppression to degrade the character of its victims ; to crush out their virtues and to increase their vices ; especially the vices of treachery and cruelty. That not a little of the evils suffered by Irishmen have been owing to their own fault, and especially to their own quarrelsome disposition and want of unity among themselves, I think is true. But they are now more united, •and Home Rule is likely to be the fruit of that unity. England never could permanently subdue tho Scotch, though she often tried. The Scotch know how to combine agaicst their enemies and oppressors. The Irish Celt is wonderfully fruitful under favorable circumstances, and in the Colonies they threaten to become " like the stars of heaven for multitude" the reward of their virtue and fidelity we must suppose. — Yours, Scotch Celt. June 12.