AN GAOḊAL.
267
lines on his country, hoping the reader will consid¬
er the country and the language as being insepar¬
ably interwoven. —
I
Remember thee! yes, while there's life in this
heart,
It shall never forget thee, all lorn as thou art ;
More dear in the sorrow, thy gloom, and thy
showers,
Than the rest of the world in their sunniest hours.
II.
Wert thou all that I wish thee — great, glorious,
and free,
First flow'r of the earth, and first gem of the sea.
I might hail thee with prouder, with happier brow,
But, oh! could I love thee more deeply than now?
III
No; thy chains as they rankle, thy blood as it
runs.
But make thee more painfully dear to thy sons,
Whose hearts like the young of the desert bird's
nest,
Drink love in each life drop that flows from thy
breast.
IRISHMEN AS GOVERNORS,
The continual cry of Englishmen and pro-Eng¬
lish writers that the Irish are unfit to govern them¬
selves, is unfortunately reached by a considera¬
ble section of the Irish people who are ignorant of
the history of surrounding nations as well as their
own. This anti-Irish cry is sought to be founded
on the internicine struggles for mastery which
they allege, prevailed in Ireland, centuries before
the advent of of the English there, among the I¬
rish chieftains. Now, any candid reader who ex¬
amines contemporary English history will see
that the internal wars and massacres which pre¬
vailed there were of greater frequency and of a
more savage nature than ever took place in Ire¬
land. In a former issue of the Gael, a detailed
comparative table showing the vast difference in
favor of Ireland, in those remote days was exhib¬
ited. In later days, not withstanding the persecu¬
tions which they have been made to suffer, Irish¬
men all over the globe have demonstrated their
capacity for self government. Nay, from time to
time, they have shaped the policy of the princi¬
pal governments of the world. The O'Donnell
ruled Spain, Nugent ruled Austria, McMahon
ruled Franc, and Arthur is ruling the United States
of America. These facts should never be lost
sight of by patriotic Irishmen because they direct¬
ly give the lie to the calumniators of Irishmen's
ability to govern. England looks on every Irish¬
man who attains to eminence with a jealous eye,
and seeks in every possible manner to belittle him.
When circumstances made it plain that Gen. Ar-
thur should assume the presidency, he was char¬
acterized as the companion of Fenians, (as if
Fenians could not point to a more ancient and il¬
lustrious ancestry than the Guelphs, any day.) It
is reasonably certain that the influence of England
will be exerted to the fullest extent to prevent the
reelection of President Arthur. Not, perhaps, on
account of any fault with his administration of off¬
ice, but simply because the fact of his occupying
it would be complimentary to the Irish people?
And we hope and trust that every Irishman, re¬
gardless of past or present political affiliations, will
do everything in his power to secure his reelection.
Whatever our political convictions are, they are by
no means in accord with President Arthur's party.
But, in such a case and under such circumstances,
we would throw American politics aside for the
moment to elevate one of our race; and one too,
who, it seems, does not deny or forget his lineage.
Though, as already said, we do not share the
views of Pres. Arthur's party, yet we would call
the attention of those who would fain make it ap¬
pear that that party and everything connected with
it are anti Irish to take note of what transpired at
the obsequies of an eminent and patriotic Irish¬
man, and a Catholic, a few weeks ago in N. Y. city,
We refer to the late lamented Hugh J. Hastings.
Did Pres. Arthur's high station prevent him from
paying a tribute of respect to his dead friend and
countryman (though Pres. Arthur was not born in
Ireland his parents were so short a time here at
that event that we took upon him as an Irishman)
No; neither did his party friends, for we find by
the newspaper accounts that Pres. Arthur, Hon.
R. Conkling, H. J. Jewett, J. Gould, S. Sloan, J.
Van Shaick, Gen. T. Eckert, W. G. Weed, J. N.
Tappan, S. England and J. Hoey acted as pall-
bearers, and we question if the magnates of the
opposite political party would pay similar marks
of regard to the remains of an Irishman, and a pa¬
triotic Irishman at that, whatever his social or po¬
litical qualities. We speak plainly and disinter¬
estedly, and place the social and political interest
of our race and country beyond all other consider¬
ations.
We send about a thousand copies of the
GAEL as advertisements through the states every
month. We do this to show our countrymen the
progress which the Irish Language Movement has
made within a few years, as well as to advertise
the paper. We hope that those who get the Gael
in this way will, after reading it, hand it to their
neighbors. In this manner the Irish language
movement will become more extensively known,
and it will help to remove the erroneous impress¬
ion prevailing among a large section of the Irish
people that they never had a cultivated literat¬
ure or a learned language. It is the duty of all
self-respecting Irishmen to explode this idea.
