Page:The Irish in Australia.djvu/310

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
296
THE IRISH IN AUSTRALIA.

second only to their love of God, and never with greater intensity than at the present time, for assuredly we look forward to a serene and happy future beyond the tearful clouds of this troubled present. We as Australians delighting in the glorious climate of this favoured land, rejoice at, and, with all our energy and all our strength, standing shoulder to shoulder in muscular rivalry with our fellow colonists, assist in every work for the advancement of our adopted country, loyally striving for and proud of its progress, the report of which reads like a chapter of romance. We feel in our hearts that we do not waver in loyal genuine attachment to this our home—the birthplace of our children, the land to which we owe so many and so weighty obligations, when we, as Irishmen, look with eyes of fond loving interest to the land of our birth. To the women of this country—Irishwomen and their descendants—I make a special appeal to nurture and cherish this patriotic sentiment. I ask them to instruct their children never to forget the land that gave their fathers birth, to rejoice in her prosperity and condole in her sorrows, to watch with keen sympathetic eye her struggles, and to pray for her deliverance from her troubles; and her woes."

"The Australian Patriot" is the affectionate title which accompanies the name of William Charles Wentworth along the stream of colonial history. And whoever studies the lengthy career of that remarkable man, and estimates at their right value his persistent and eventually successful struggles to rid Australia of a hateful military system of government, and to replace it by one worthy of the confidence and the allegiance of free-born men, will at once admit that the title bestowed upon Wentworth by a grateful I people was indeed well deserved. The son of Mr. D'Arcy