The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1866-02-01
zORFOLK. VA. THURSDAY. FEBRUARY /, 1866.
THURSDAY. FEBRUARY |. 1866.
THE IRISH COUNCIL TO THEIR
FRIENDS IN AMERICA. M
HEAD CENTER oMAHONY's EXPLANATION AND
INDORsEMENT

| The following IS an address OF thu
Council Of the Irish Republic to thu
friends Of ireland in America, together
with an explanation from Head Center
O'Mahony, of the causes which have 81
long delayed Its publication
| ef "a ADDRESS. f'3 Z
DUBLIN, -, 1895. 1
BROTHERS: We address you in the
name of Ireland our right to do so Is
no vain assumption. We represent the
manhood Of Ireland as surely as the
Congress which, on the Fourth of July,
l776, declared the English colonies free,
represented the people of the thirteen
United States of America. M =.
There was then an English garrison
there were waverers, and slaves and
traitors--in America. We have all these
in Ireland now. But the American
people We're self-reliant and selfsacri-
ficing, and resolved to win their indie
pendence in the only way u nations
independence was ever won. So, we
boldly assert, are the Irish people at this
hour.
We need not tell you that, for long
time back, there has been work doing
throughout the length and breadth Of
the island, and even in the midst of the
enemy's country.
That work is done.
So far-sustained by our brethren in
the great Republican, the face of danger
and opposition--we at home have done
our part.
We know our strength; we are not
cropping in the dark.
A point has been reached from which
we can see the goal clearly.
Let us go forward, and the hour of
Ireland's deliverance is at hand. To
stand stiff were to seal her doom.
Which shall it be? We have now to
decide whether this island shall resume
her place among the nations or continue
the slave of England--the home of a
crushed and impoverished people--till
what remains of her old race have tum--
bled into pauper graves, or drifted away
to the ends of the earth.
The salvation of the long suffering
land Is in the hands of her own chill
dren.
What are you prepared or willing to
do?
We do not cry out to you to come and
break our chains while we stand idly
by.
We call upon you to aid the Irish
Army of Independence which soon
shall stand face to face with the enemy.
We ask loan for which Ireland Will
be your debtor. And, in the name of
the Irish People, we have engaged that
the debt shall be paid within six months
after the establishment of Irish inde-
pendence.
Once in the field tbs en AF@x ri tbo9
the country. There will be more than
sufficient to carry on the war.
But so much depends upon the first
blow, we have resolved not to strike it
until we are in position t0strike with
effect.
You can help to place us in that posi-
ton; and that you will do so freely and
readily we do not doubt.
You will not grudge to your own land
what you have so freely given to the
land of your adoption. And that Ire
land is your own land you could not
even if you would, deny. She is the
land of your birth, the land of your
fathers, the land of yourlove. And the
fact that you have left her-that you.
have been driven from the fields and
rivers, the blue mountains and the wierd
ruins that still haunt you in your
dreams-but doubles the debt you owe
her, as, we are firmly convinced, it has
intensified your love for her and your
hatred of her merciless tyrant. And if
you were never to see her fair face again,
it would still be your interest, as well as
your duty, to help to lift her from the
dust. M
For her slavery is shadow upon your
path. 1t is dragchain which will
compel you to lag behind in the march
of progress.
The recognition of Ireland as a free
and sovereign state, would do more to
make her sons in other lands respected
other nation in triumph through the
mightiest wars that ever blazoned the
page of history.
We address ourselves, i'm the first in
stance, to Irishmen and the sons of
Irishmen in America. We know that
all freedom-loviDg Americans will lend
our enterprise generous helping hand.
They gave us bread when famine
stalked through our island, Staying its
million victims, while the ships of
England bore away the produce of her
fruitful fields. They will now aid us to
redress our wrongs. The enemy we
have sworn TO strike down is their
enemy. Ireland's oppressor is Ameri-
cas- deadliest foe.
But we must convince the world that
Irishmen are resolved to do their own
work with their own hands. Therefore
we wish to see the bonds of the Irish
Republic subscribed for by Irishmen.
The first creditors of the nation should
be her own sons.
We have said that We address you i'm
the name of Ireland. The Central
Council of the Fenian Brotherhood have
our names in confidence; but for obvi-
Gus reasons they cannot be published
until the old green flag is taken from its
hiding place and once more unfurled
under an Irish sky.
The Central Council of the Fenian
Brotherhood are intimately acquainted
with all the details of the work we have
done and the resources upon which we
rely. They are satisfied that our hopes
of success are we'll founded.
1t now remains forus to implore YOU
you, our brethrenwho enjoy SO much of
the advantages which great free coun-
try like that in which your lot is cast
can alone corlfer--to act with prompti-
tude. Delay might be fatal.
Hundreds of thousands are waiting
for the word Finer men, morally and
physically, Ireland never called her
own. They cling to their native land in
the hope that the time approaches when
they shall be summoned to do battle in
her cause. But alas they must 20
they must follow the millions that have
gone-if the hour for action be delayed
much longer.