ARCHBISHOP CROKE ON THE ALLEGED IRISH EMIGRATION SCHEME.
In reference to the emigration scheme which the Government are alleged to contemplate =Arch bishop Croke, of Cashel writes a letter to the Freeman, in wbiqli lie says:—-"I cannot, olTcoafsersay with" any dfgree of certainty whether there ia v any foundation in fact or not for the sickening, but characteristic project that you refer to; but so much am I opposed to it that I cannot suffer even one day to pass without protesting against it in the loudest tones that,l can assume, and in the strongest terms that the language affords me. I protest against it on principle; and I protest against it because of what experience hat told me of emigration, whether wholesale or in detail. What would be thought of a father, who having seven children, and exceptionally cherishing two of them, whom he pets and pampers and makes much of, would allow the other five to pine away and almost perish, and who, when asked to come to their assis* tance in sorrow, sickness, or distress, Would complacently throw open his house door, and pointing to the far-stretching fields outside, would tell his neglected offspring, after placing a coin in their hands, that the world was wide, and that, with his best wishes, they may go where they please, and feed and clothe them* selves as best they could ? TLis is a fair illustration of what is said to be in store for us. The Celt has a right to live in Ireland, and I agree with you fully in saying ' That the Irish people should not allow themselves to be driven a second time from their native land.' I have seen the scattered Children of our race in almost every land that the suu shines upon, and after a fair experience of the great Republic of the West, and in the numerous dependencies that own the sway of Great Britain, I have no hesitation whatever in saying that an Irishman's fittest and happiest home is in Ireland^ Many of our people have rises, no doubt, to eminent station, and have acQuirei-creafc. wealth abroad. Personally I love the free flag that protects the industry and the independent spirit that cheers while it rewards honest labor, whether it be in the k United States of America or in the flourishing colonies of England at the Antipodes. But it is well to have! it understood that hardship and often disappointment are the emigrant's lot;' that he has to toil much for his bread abroad ; that, though wages are high, the necessaries of life are high-priced also,;^ that a shilling at home is worth a dollar in America or at the Antipodes; and' .that the simplest and scantiest fare beside one's household goods is sweeter than roast or boiled amongst strangers. Religion, too, is essential to the happiness of the Irish Catholic, and nowhere is he so sure of finding it as in ' Holy Ireland.' On this account also, then, I protest against the threatened emigration scheme; and in the concluding words of your speech, I say—' We must resist any proposal of this kind as an outrage on the country.' 1'
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Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3464, 31 January 1880, Page 1
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531ARCHBISHOP CROKE ON THE ALLEGED IRISH EMIGRATION SCHEME. Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3464, 31 January 1880, Page 1
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