GENIUS AND CHARACTER OF THE IRISH PEOPLE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 64, 18 July 1874, Page 12

GENIUS AND CHARACTER OF THE IRISH PEOPLE.

ALwjiuaßDjffinrjsiun) at Boston bt the Rev.Thos. Bttbke. Lcf TamnoHshai, H ie f lißtol7 ° f ° Ur Dation and our *°™^ ■titia wmmas. zmgm dark side, but with this difference • HiiiTi-' i<■ i also the S-.'.:srEh,~iv ; ,S wSiKns the Catholic faith from Sfc Pa rick Ireland L, 1 Tl ° • CS received Burpassingthat of all other £££ , sft^** 01 *?* 1111 * 18 "* and how to die : but Ireland's npS >,, k knOWn, nOWn hw to snffe i' or to abandon thHaith of ihJTSSm^ n5 W lMnid t0 ™*inqvvh from theglonousApc^s e^Vom God 'dVf "* T*"? theh '^ h They Imre s . ragg l P d fa. ,„« L 7 £ "ZJ 1^8"'. '^"elitj. in the character and genius of Ireland iC J !i flfS * b V >autiful we read, demanded of the ir AposUe^the stlof Sm^T ° f whoDB truth which he taught them. Ireland a one ami °^ d ,°, ratif - 5 ' the of the earth, received their faiti willingly •' tookTL" ? Nati ° HS into the hearts and blood of her children and nlv? J Uy J P ufc - it: one tear of sorrow, nor one drj . rfhS Wood T Mo?,^ d h ™ A V»°* nation on the face of the eartli has nt .„». ♦ tlan thls ' every jto. some for. h^*!^^ dt'tHneTs dSp'm'ad o^ 0 ? denied; some anti-Pope set up his unholy ».»*•' discipline of the Catholic Church lEj P'^-aoas to be the head withadhineinstincCthe/nfryieldedloanvT' fe %^ rac '°' "^ were nerer yet deceived in the LScfc vvh.V 7h ?f? f Jlol>eß - v ; the^ Lend of the'oatholio Church-,1 c -eaf Po p fe' 1""1 ""* 0 c tru « teentli century, there was a protracted «Z\ • m me> In tho fou '- An anti-Pope raised Limscli un T,, *? th ? Vuthol^ Church, dece.ved, Italy was deceived * P J£»S?T "** yed > Gefmaay was glorious irela/d, w?th LTe Stitf of^ SnelrTf" 5 ? Ut people clung to the tiuo Pontiff, and ad he rod to^'t^l™*™* S^docl Catholic Ohuroh. Whence oa.ue tills jibt W^'" 6 0± th<3 fidelity that neither bloodshed nor death could S^VT th ° ta Uod ; it came from that hi g h heart Z^ZJ^Z

that inspired Patrick to preacti the Gospel to the people of Ireland and inspired the Irish people to receive the message of Christian peace and love from his mouth. The uexfc great point in the genius and. character of the Irish people is the bravery, and valor, and courage that have been tried upon a thousand fields ; and, glory to you, Irelaud; Irish courage has never been found wanting! No, never! They fought for a thousand years on our own soil. The cause was a good one ; the fortune of the cause was bad. They were defeated and overpowered upon a hundred, yea a thousand fields ; but never from the day that Ireland's sword sprang from its scabbard to meet the first Dane, down to the day that; the last Irish soldier" perished on Vinegar Hill,— never has Ireland been dishonored or defeated by the cowardice of her children Why, whence comes this light of our people ? I answer, that it comes from tins, that Ireland as a nation, and Irishmen as a people hare never drawn the nation's swdrd in a bad, a treacherous, or a dishonorable cause. We have fought on a thousand fields, at home and abroad • we have been from time to time, obliged to shed our blood in a cause with which we had no sympathy; but Irishmen have never freely drawn the sword except in the Sacred cause of God, of the altar of God, and of sacred liberty— the best inheritance of man Search the annals of the military history of Ireland. Did we fall back before the Dane, when for three centuries— three hundredjyears— he poured in army npon army on Irish soil. He endeavoured to sweep away the name of Christ from the Irish land. Did we ever give up the contest, or sheath the sword, or say the cause Miaa lost? Never! England yielded, and admitted the Dane as a conqueror France yielded, and admitted the Dane as a ruler and king amongst her people. But Ireland never— never for an ingtant yielded • and upon that magnificent Good Friday morning, at Clontarf Bne'drew Xhe sword with united hand, swept the Dane into his own sea and nd her soil of him for ever. Ah, my friends, Irishmen for three, hundred years were fighting in the cause of their God, of their religion, and of their national liberty Then came the invasion of the English. For four hundred years our people fought an unsuccessful fight and divided as they were, broken into a thousand factions, how could they succeed when success is only promised to union as a preliminary and a necessary condition. They ffailed in defending and asserting the nationality of Ireland. At the end of four hundred years, England declared that the war was no longer against Ireland's nationality, but against Ireland's Catholic religion. And England declared that the Irish people must consent not only to be slaves, but to be Protestant slaves. Once more the sword of Ireland was unsheathed and came forth from its scabbard ; and this time in the hands of the nation. We have fought for three hundred years : and five years ago the Government and people of England were obliged to acknowledge that the people of Ireland were too strong for them. They were conquerers on the question of religion ; and Gladstone declared that the Protestant Church was no longer the Church of Ireland. Whence came this light— this magnificent glory that sheds itself over the character and genius of my people ? I see an Irishman to-day in the streets of an American city • I k see him an honest labourer ; I see him, perhaps, clothed in rags • I see him, perhaps, with a little too much drink in, and forgetful of himself; but wherever I see a true Irishman, 1 greet him as the representative of a race that never yet knew how to fly from a foe or to show their backs to the enemy. Why ? Because of their Catholic faith, taught them by St. Patrick, which tells them that it is never lawful to draw the sword in an unjust cause ; but that wheu the cause is just— for religion, for God, or for freedom— he is the besfc Chriitian who knows how to draw the sword, wave it triumphant over the field or ietit fall in the hand of man who knows how to die without dishonor' The tmrd light that shines upon the bright side of the history the" character, and the genius of my people, is the light of diviue purity • the purity that makes the Irish maiden as chaste as the nun in her cloister ; the purity which makes the Irish man as faithful to his wife as the priest is to the altar that he serves ; the purity that makeß Morinonism and defilement of every kind utter strangers to our race and to our people. I say, the Irish woman is the glory of Ireland • she is the glory of her country. How beautiful is she in the integrity vi virginal purity. . She has been taught it by St. Patrick who held up the Mother of God— the Virgin Mother— as the very type of Ire land's womanhood, and Ireland's consecrated virgins, as illustrated in the hres and in the characters of our Irish virgin saints. The Irishman knows that, whatever else he may be false to, whatever other obligations ho may violate and break, there is one bond, tied by the hands of God Himself before the altar ; sealed with the sacramental seal of matrimony ; signed by the sign of the Cross— that no power upon earth, or in hell, or in Heaven, can ever break; and that w the sacred bond that binds him to the wife of hia bosom. What follows from this ? I know that there are men here who do not believe in the Catholic religion ; that do not believe in the integrity of our Irish race : yet I ask these men to explain to me this simple fact— How is it, how comes it to pass that whilst the Mormons are recruiting from every nation in Europe, and from every people in America, they have only had five Irish people amongst them ? And amongst these five four arrived in New York last week. A reporter of the ' Herald newspapar went to them, and he said to them, " In the name of God are you hecome Mormons ? " They said, " Yes, yes, we are." «« Why don't you come from Ireland ?" The auswer he got was this-" A wcul, «c cam' Ira 1 tho J>Torth of Ireland, ye ken ; but we're a' Scotch bodies." Hen and women of Ireland, to the honor and glory of our race, there was only one Irishman among all the Mormons. What brought him across there ? I don't know. I would like to meet him und nave half-an-hour's conversation with him. '

(To he Continued.)

Tho general election ut the Cope has resulted in a great infusion o( new blood. The Parliament consists of sixty-eight members and oi these twenty-eight never served before, and thirty-seven did not ait in the List house. *