The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-08-12

WON mUE6 T6bp6CG 1Tl6nm6n IN tu6
House of Commons than all the eloquence
| of Burke, Grattan, and O'Connell cloud
applause).
MR.. BIGGAR
| said that in Parliament he and his col
| leagues spoke not their own opinions but
the opinion of the great mass of the people
who sent them there, and they were able
to speak with certain amount of author
| ity which in their individual capacity they
could not pretend to do. If their argu-
ments were not correct they were not en-
TITLED to consideration, but they (the Irish
national members) always stated facts cor
rectly, and strove to base sound arguments
upon them. For these reasons-partly be-
| cause they represented large constituent
cies, and next because they stated facts
| within their knowledge, and baeed argu-
ments upon them of sound nature-they
thought they were entitled to fair consid-
Grafton cloud applause). They attended
to their duties, and made themselves more
or less acquainted with subjects which
were likely to interest the Irish people, OF
in which their interests were mixed up
and they offered their opinion either for or
against matters before the HOUSE IN a tenn
perate and straightforward manner. They
asked that those matters should be dis
cussed at q time when real and bona .fde
attention could be given to them. That
| was all they attempted to do; and if all
the members of the Irish party did the
| same, they would be Omuipotent in the
House of Commons, because the great bulk
of the Eugfish and Scotch members were
| not in earnest, but simply went to the
House of Commons for the honor of being
able to call themselves M. P.'s daughter
and applause). 1t would be very great
honor certainly if they were there for hon
| est objects but if they were only there
for the honor of getting title and enjoy
| ing the social advantages 1t gave, they did
| NOT naaarva honor whAtAVGr. The
section to which he (Mr. Biggar) belonged
had some little difficulty two years ago,
| because older members of the party thought
| they should hatter the old prejudices and
traditions of the House of Commons. Now,
| he did not see any reason why the repre-
| sentative of the county of Meath. the
representative of the county of Mayo,
or the representative of the County
of Cavap, should flstter the ejudice
of an assembly composed of men who,
on an average, were not more clever or OF
| higher character than the Irish members;
and, indeed, in many cases they were not
of SO good character laughter]. Ger
| tainly, great majority of members were
not 80 much in earnest as the Irish mem
| bers. No three members in the House OF
Commons got better nearing tnan 1ne
| three he had named. OF course, they did
not get so many votes when they came to
a division, but that WAS owing, in great
measure, to prejudice, and to the fact that
the great majority of men who voted in
that assembly never heard word of the
arguments, but simply attended to the d.
vision bell, and voted as their party told
Them [applausel. 1t was no proof that the
arguments of the Irish members were
wrong because people who had not heard
the arguments voted against them; and
that was really what occurred. Hitherto
they had had a very far amount of cue
cess, and what they now wanted was me
continuous sympathy OF the great mssAes
of the people all over the country ap-
plause, and voice, "YOu have It'I.
Such a sympathy strengthened them Ia
many ways. 1t influenced their opponents,
because they saw that the Irish members
did not represent themselves alone, but
people who were in earnest applaueel .
They had succeeded without in the
slightest degree infringing the rules of the
House of Commons, and had never
stretched those rules beyond their legiti-
mate and proper right [applausel. But if
, the House of Commons continued as 1t had
, hitherto done-refused to redress the grieV-
. ances of the Irish people-a time might
come when real obstruction might be re
commended by the people outside, and II
the people outside instructed the Irish
members to really obstruct what was call
ed the business of the House of Commons,
he was disposed to think that there were
members on that platform, and others,
f who would willingly, readily, and earnest
i. | Iy carry tlelr lnSCrucLlOpS 1ntO cueCI 6p-
plause1 They would do this if the irish
race III England and Ireland gave them
their sympathy and support in the carry
ing out of a policy which the Irish mem
bers were sure would be beneficial to Ire
land and to the manhood of the Irish race
all over the world loud cheersl
MR.. o'CoNNoR POWER
said so long as the British taxpayer had
the control over the British expenditure,
so long would the power of those deter.
mined men on the floor of the House OF
Commons be insuperable in obstEucting
bad measures and opposing bad men
(cheers). He was frequently reminded, in
, studying the political character of Irishmen,
of that famous saying of Henry Grattsn-
but the slave that makes the tyrant," and
to those of their own men who were doubt
full of the future of their action, he would
simply say, "Keep your minds at ease,
and, in the name of patriotism, if you can
do nothing to stimulate courage, and help
forward the cause of Irish freedom, do moi