AMERICAN OPINION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1090, 20 April 1883, Page 3

AMERICAN OPINION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE.

The American paper PutK says “The Irish hare talked more and done less than any people on the face of the earth. For centuries they have bragged to the world of their courage, their wit, their cleverness, their good-nature. At the present day what do we find them ? A discontented, idle, and debt-disowning lot. Discontented with the Government that protects them, that makes i hem every concession within its power, that treats them with a forbearance unexampled tn the records bf politics. Idle—for with thousands of hands strong for the work of the anvil, the plough, and the loom, their broad land has neither commercial nor agricultural importance, save ,fpr a few cities where British capital and British cusFdm'hhve BiltttTrp - ar trhde. Diphonest—because when a famine comes iipoh them they make it an excuse for not paying the money they owe. When we say disloyal, we mean to use the word in its fullest and fairest meaning. Ireland lives only through British pride and courage and military skill. If Britian had not fought for herself and for her own on a hundred battlefields, Ireland would be the helpless dependency of some Continental Power. Irishmen of to-day talk of tyranny. What is the equitable, even indulgent, government of Britain to the despotism which Austria or Russia has exercised over the nations they have conquered T Get the dis affected Irishmen ask this question in Lombardy or in Poland. Ireland belongs to Britain. The Irish have no more right to ask for recognition as an independent nation than our Indians have to sot up a Government for themselves on the lands that are our property. The memory of history runs not to the time when Ireland had a Government sufficiently strong or sufficiently stable to make her respected among the nations of the earth. When the Irishmen talks of his lost freedom he recalls on'y the system of slavery under the reign of barbarian kings. The country was conquered, arid finally conquered, centuries ago, as Wales .was conquered. It could not be otherwise. This little hanoVbreadth of sea-girt land could not hold three kingdoms, Wales long ago ' accepted the situation, made the .best of it,

and joined their forces with the greater force, to make as strong a country as the world has ever known. Only Ireland, ia its unproductive idleness, stood apart and waged, a mean, cowardly, and childish war against the great nation that, in conquering the wild.land, made its people partners in its own greatness and glory. Ireland would not work with the rest; she would only beg —for to beg she was not ashamed- and bite the hand that gave. Since the 'time she has found a master she has sat apart from other people, wrapping herself in the mantle of her poverty, accepting every gift, and cursing the giver. She has contributed nothing to the national prosperity. If she has not benefited by it, it has been because she would not stretch forth her hand. She has posed before the world as a picturesque martyr, she has done nothing, and she has asked everything. And, be it noted, the idleness of Ireland is no question of disaffection or discouragement. Irishmen have rarely done any work, even in this free country, to improve their social condition. We have foiind them useful in building in digging canals, and laying sewer-pipes. Whenever they have risen above this level it has been only to maladminister the government of some hapless town or city that has fallen Into their clutches. They are too lazy, too lacking in pluck even to fight. A handful of friendless, helpless, hopeless Cubans waged for years a war against Spain, which should have enlisted all the nations of . the earth in their cause. But the Irishman hides behind a fence and shoots his landlord in the back. This is his Idea of courageous warfare