AN GAODHAL.
53
ANSWERS to CORRESPONDENTS.
L. M. C. Memphis Tenn. — Anyone who speaks
Irish can learn to read and write in about nine months;
if he has a tolerably good knowledge of English
Grammar, he can learn to write it in six months.
T. O'B, St. Louis Mo. — All school boys are fa-
miliar with the reply which Euclid is said to have
made to Ptolemy Philadephus, King of Egypt, —
"There is no royal road to Geometry.” This is
applicable to the learning of all the sciences, lan-
guages included ; which in plain language means
that nothing can be done without mental labor.
J. L. Milford Me. — These are some of the stat-
utes under which Catholics suffered —
No Catholic should sit in parliament, vote at e-
lections, or discharge any public office.
A Catholic could not be executor to a will, of
guardian to a minor, or practice any liberal profes-
sion. No Catholic could form contracts, nor pur-
chase or inherit lands.
Every Catholic who did not attend Protestant
service, suffered banishment, and in case he return-
ed, death.
Every priest, who, after three day’s deliberation
did not apostatize, was hanged and quartered.
Every Catholic schoolmaster was accounted a felon.
A reward of £50 was offered for the discovery of
every bishop, £20 for a priest, £10 for a schoolmast-
er; and these fines were exacted from the Catholics
themselves.
If a Catholic possessed a valuable horse, any Pro-
testant might take it. on giving the owner £5.
Marriages with Catholics were declared null.
A child or wife, on becoming a Protestant, was
empowered to renounce the authority of the par-
ent or husband.
Saying or even hearing mass, or the reception of
the Sacraments according to the rites of the Catholic
Church, were punished with a cruelty surpassing
that of the pagan persecutions. During the reign
of George, III., Bishop Talbot stood trial for his
life, because he had celebrated the Holy Mass. They
remained in force until the passing of the “Catholic
Relief Bill" 1839 — fifty three years ago.
J. M. Phil. Pa. — We believe the GAODHAL to
be perfectly consistent with itself. We are a Land-
Leaguer because we desire to assist any movement
tending to our aim and aspirations. At the same
time we believe if all the monies collected for Land-
League purposes were applied in another direction
that England would drop Ireland “like a hot potato.
Many of our readers have seen a hot coal applied to
the mouth of a bulldog to make him let go his hold
of his weak victim. Irishmen should treat England
like the bulldog. We have seen the declarations
of English “noble lords” that they would not give
such and such concessions to the Irish people. If
Irishmen had the spirit of men they would not
the second time ask for any concssions at the
hands of England. Providence has endowed every
animal of the creative system with the means of de-
fence according to his state. To the strong powers
He has given breechloaders and Crupp Guns ; to
the weak, He discovered scientifical processes by
which to checkmate the inhumanity and the arro-
gance of the strong. The question is, are Irishmen
going to avail themselves of the means of defence
which Providence has placed at their disposal — re-
membering that a hair of a man’s head cannot grow
or fall without His consent? Since our youth we
have witnessed the most heart rending scenes at the
hands of England. (and what is it to that which pre-
ceeded our existence?) We have seen the father of a
man who lives in Brooklyn today, evicted from
his home at the age of ninety! Tho' we were only
commencing our teens at the time, the moans and
groans of that tottering old man; the large drops
rolling down his furrowed cheeks, as he leant for
support on the arm of his son, are vividly before
our mind. At the same time and on the same occa-
sion we have witnessed the eviction of a strong and
industrious man, his wife and nine children — five
daughters and four sons. The wife, though com-
paratively young, died of a broken heart. The girls,
as fine a specimen of the human race as could be pic-
tured, went to England to earn a living. What was
the fate of some of these beautiful girls, as related
to us by eye-witnesses? Reader, the contemplation
of it is too shocking to relate! Why, dear reader,
there are more human lives sacrificed in England for
the last fifty years — the consequence of these evic¬
tions — than would be sacrificed in freeing our Coun-
try from the unhallowed connection. Yet, we must,
our patriotic sentimentalists say, have honorable
warfare!!!
Let England be given to understand that the Irish
people are in earnest; that they are going to be a
people, and with England's knowledge that Provi-
dence has placed at their disposal the means of
freeing themselves, self preservation will cause her
to let go her unrighteous grip. If she does not
let the consequences be with her. He who parleys
with a footpad is particeps criminis in that footpad's
subsequent depredation — These are the GAEL'S
sentiments.
Mr. M. J. Logan — Please inform me where I
can buy a dictionary in the Irish language, and
the price. —
MAG.
If Irish American politicians took the same
pains to elevate the moral and social condition
of their countrymen that they do to hold them in
hand for electioneering purposes, the epithet,
lrish, would command more respect than is now
being accorded to it. It is not possible to be¬
hold a more debasing spectacle than a boss po-
litician surrounded by a lot of half-drunken men.
THE UNITED IRISHMAN, the organ of the advanced
Nationalists, deserves support. It means all
it says. ROSSA is its publisher, 25 Beekman St.
