The Russellville Democrat., 1881-06-16
Agitation in Ireland.

A Dublln dispatch states that Archbishop Croke concluded at Thurles one of the most ex- traordinary campaigns ever known in Irish ecclesiastical history His Grace brought his labors to close with two speeches containing several passages of the highest importance at the present moment In the forenoon he made a remarkable appeal to Gladstone to put stop to evictions His Grace said "I appeal to that great statesman solemnly as an Irish patriot as an Irish Bishop, in the name of Tipperary and in the name of Ireland, to let this fat go out that there are to be no more evictions during the present time. lGreat cheering.l Ut is a curious fact that the word eviction, in the sense in which 1t is sused here, is scarcely known in any other country in the world. There is no such word and no such thing elsewhere. It is word of evil omen; It Is word that implies depopulation of our country; that implies degredaiion of our people that implies the flying of them beyond the waters to foreign lands in quest of the means Of livelihood, carrying with them spirit of vengeance against what IS certainly the greatest empire in the world but which is no less cer- than ever an empire treated dependency. Loud cheers. Therefore, l would say to that great gentleman; If you value the good name of Ireland, If you value the lives of your people, if you do not wish to perpetuate national fends and the sanguinary tragedies that have ruled in this country for ages, blot out from the statute book the name of eviction, and let no man henceforth be turned out of his land unless it is quite clear that the money which should have met his en- gagement was wastehily and foolishly dissipated Loud cheers It was only the other day that a venerable parish priest of Moycarkey told me that when he became priest of the parish 1t contained ltN n me ask MT Gladstone what has become of the 800 families once so happy ia their humble homes, who have disappeared from the parish7 Many of them have gone into the grave, many into the workhouse, and many to the great republic of the west, bearing with them undying hatred to the country that banished them fron their native land. lGreat cheering.
 "At the same time, if evictions are to 20 on. I would advise you how to act Do not bring your selves into collision with the authoities they are too strong for you. If not even for conscience sake, for our own preservation for the sake of expedency if not of principle, we must act in the defensive; we must offer q passive resistance to those opposed to us, and in that way they will get tired of contest because q whole united peo- pie have never yet been defeated" In the even. ing his Grace entered fully into the present position and acts of the Land League He de- clared the agitation was not due to Dayitt nor Parnel nor their followers, but to the fact that there was mighty grievance and that the Irish determined to remove it. Without the priest hood of Ireland 1t would have been impossible said his Grace, 'for the movement to reach its present mighty dimensions" It had been said Parnell did not wish the cooperation of the priesthood, but the Archb bishop declared authori. tatiyely that two years ago Parnell waited on him to him to ask hint use all his influence to have the priests join the movement His Grace con eluded with the following remarkable declara- ton: "I have to say that this movement is not revolutionary in the strict sense of the word It IS constitutional movement, 1t is lawful movement, it Is the movement which we intend Co push forward by moral force alone. fCheersl We do not intend to violate any law we intend to exhaust ali constitutional remedies we are perfectly certain that the elasticity of the con. stitution will allow us the means of working energetically to the last, and finally achieving the result we aim at. We wish to produce i1 effect upon England, not hi physical force ur by any manifestations of physical force but by moral means. We want to make our grieyances known before the entire world to tell France, Spain and Italy and the United States and Great Britain that as m this country we have been kept down by bayOnets to the present time and