The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-05-04
THE IRISH NATIONAL CONVENTION.
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED At THE MEET
ING IN PHILADELPHIA.
A Severe Arrangement of the English
Government.
The Dynamite Wing Sat Down On.

PHILADELPHIA. April 27.-It was nearly
IL O'Clock before the Irish National Conven.
ton assembled this morning. Reading Of
the minutes was dispensed with.
The chairman of the committee on reso-
lutions submitted his report at $40. 1t says:
The Irish American people, assembled in
convention at Philadelphia, submit to the
intelligence and right reason of their fellow
men that the duty of government is to pre-
serve the lives of the governed; to defend
their liberty; to protect their property; to
maintain peace and order; to allow each por-
ton of the people an equitable and efficient
voice in legislation, and to promote the gen.
eral welfare by wise, just and humane laws.
We solemnly declare and cite the unques-
toned history, universal knowledge and liv-
ing testimony thereof; first, thai the English
Government has existed in Ireland not to
preserve the lives of the governed, but to de-
stroy them. The resolution then pictures at
length the allowed barbarities of the English
Government; how the blazing torch has been
applied to asylums and women terrified; how
the deadly bomb has been discharged into
helpless towns, aud adds: ''As If the sword.
cannon, torch, scafold, dagger and explo-
sives were not enough, it enjoys the unique
infamy of being the only Government known
TO ancient or modern times which has en-
ployed famine for the destruction of those
from whom IL claimed allegiance, forcibly
robbing the IIish people of the fruits of their
own toll produced by their own labor. 1t
has buried not hundreds, not thousands, but
more than millions of the Irish race I'M
shrouded, uncoffined in the grave of hunger;
it has mercilessly compelled other millions
In compulsory poverty to seek in alien lands
the bread they we're entitled 10 in their own.
There is no form of cruelty known to the
lowest savage which it has not prscticed on
the Irish people in the name of the highest
civilization" The last paragraph of this
plank refers to dynamite. 1t is : "There is
no form of retaliation to which despair or
madness may resort for which English
cruelty IN Ireland is not exclusively re-
sponsible."
Second-We declare the English Govern
ment in Ireland has not defended the liberty
Of the people, but has annIhilated it. The
statutes enacted since the Invasion amount
TO a series of coercion laws, framed to de
prive the citizens Of all vestiges of personal
freedom, and reduce them to outlawry in
order to confscaie their property aud compel
them 10 fee TO foreign LANDS. Without a
warrant citizens may be thrown into prison;
without counsel he may be put on a mock
trial before prejudIced judge and packed
jury; on lying accusations of purchased
wretches, his liberty may be sacrificed or his
life taken in the name of the law.
Thrd-Instead of protecting the property
of the people, the English Government in
Ireland has been conspicuous for its injury
and ruin. Out of twenty million acres OF
producing land six million has been allowed
to lie waste, and the ownership Of the re-
mainder, generally acquired by force or fraud,
has been retained in the hands of Iavenous
monopolists, who annually drain the couu-
try of its money in the form of rents, no
portion Of which goes back to the Irisi,
people. In addition to this, an iniquitous
system of taxation imposes on the people a
gigantic burden for the sustenance of a for.
eign army; for an oppressive const abulary;
for salaries to supernumerary officers and
noliceuen. fur Mansions tn Englisb fayor;, ma.
for blood money; for a vulgar court, whose
extravaganza is exceeded only by the shame
Of its pretensions of nationality for Ireland
The capital of the country is sent to Eng
land on one pretext or another, and brings
in exchange nothing except articles of Eng
lish manufacture, which Ireland under self
government would produce for themselves
or purchase in America. Irish manufactures,
SO deliberately destroyed by England In the
last century, are still dormant; her immense
water power turns no wheels; her rivers are
INSTRUCTED; her useful clay and valuable
minerals are untouched. In her beautiful
harbors are few new ships, except those of
her enemy. English law for protection in
Ireland has been a lance to make Ireland
bleed at every pore for the benefit of the
heartless landlords and English mauufac
turers. The English Government in Ireland
has not maintained peace and order, but has
for seven hundred years broken her peace
and destroyed her order. The English Gov.
eminent IN Ireland does not allow this por.
ton of the Empire an equitable aud efficient
voice In the Legislature. In England one
twelfth of the population vote for members
of Parliament; i'm Ireland one twenty fifth
of the population vote for members of Par
Lament. In England registration laws are
favorable to voters; in Ireland they are In.
imical to voters. In England ali classes of
the population are fairly represented; in
Ireland the poor law is employed to secure
to the Landlords and place hunters the pre-.
ponderance in the national delegation. In
England the judiciary Is independent of the
executive, and in sympathy with the people;
in Ireland the Judiciary is the creature and
part Of the executive, and is appointed ex
HUN Ihc Ohemies vi the people.
In England the magistracy is chosen without
regard to religion; in Ireland % per cent. of
the magistrates having Jurisdiction over the
peoples liberty are selected from creed re
jected by rs per cent. Of the people, and a
desested spirit of religious bigotry is thus
legalized. In England laws creating disa
bilties on account of religion have long been
dead; in Ireland laws made under Edward
ILL.,, Queen Elizabeth, Earl Stratford,
Charles H., Queen Anne aud their success.
sors are still vital to torment the people for
whose oppression no statute Is found too
hoary by venal aud truculent judges. Every
measure Of legislation proposed by an Eng
lrsh member receives courteous considera-
lion; any measure, however just, necessary
Or humane, proposed by patriot Irish mem
b-rs, Is contemptuously rejected by com
bined majority of both the great English
parties. Thus, tho educational system In
Ireland 10 VIGOROUSLY inadequate. Thus IL
b that evils unknown in England and de.
:lared by Gladstone to be almost equivalent
% death sentence are of daily occurrence in
Ire and, and have nearly doubled In five
Tetrs In spite of the hoasted benefit of Glad
It mes land laws. Thus 1t is that though
! cording to the government returns crim
mails are twenty seven in 10000 of the Eng
ish people, and only sixteen In 10000 Of
h. Tria