Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-08-14
IRISH NATIONAL LEAGUE.
ELOQUENT ADDRESS BY PRES
IDENT SULLIVAN.
Great Enthusiasm-Seve Hundred
Delegates Attend-No Discus
sion of American Politics.
ESPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE REooRp.uNIoS

delegates 10 the Convention of the Irisf
National League held a secret meeting un
til after midnight The principal busines,
was the defining of the policy which shall
govern the proceedings of the Convention
to-day. The delegates are nearly all unan,
imous in favor of prohibiting the discus
sion, in any form, of American politics. i
was decided 10 recommend Judge Mooney
of Buffalo, for temporary Chairman. The
Iowa State League sent 81 900 TO Sullivan
for the Parliamentary fund Seven hun
dred delegates are in town.
Faneuil Hall was filled at noon with 7Q(
delegates to the Irish National League Con
vention and their friends Many ladies o
the woman's branch Of the League wer,
present, also many priests The hall i,
finely decorated.
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT SULLIVAN.
President Sullivan, in his address said
GENTLEMEN Of THE CONVENTION: In tn,
name and by the authority of the Irish
National League of America, we meet [,
fulfill the requirements of its constitution
to convey TO our kindred the message o
our steadtast devotion, and to receive the
ambassadors whom they have commits
stoned to acquaint us with the progress o
their struggle for sclf-government. The
memorable Philadelphia Convention or
ganized the Irish National League Of Amer
lea. 1t is the auxiliary Of the Irish Ma,
tional League of Ireland, the heir of al
the hopes, and the guardian of more
than the aims of that great social revolt
which lifted the Irish farmer from the
earth TO his feet, and cast the English SyS
TEN of landlordism in Ireland on its face
on the earth. The Land League was borl
in an hour Of woe, when the specter o
famine appeared, summoned, not by tht
breath of God whitening the harvests, bu
by the English Government. With armie:
and fleets, with prisons and scaffolds anc
felon ships, with Coercion Acts ant
constabulary, it enabled the land
by foreign charity. the food the
out of their own soil Humane. nav
humble as was the first object of the Lane
League, it was suppressed by force becaust
the English Government feared that from
the brow of its humanity would spring til,
spirit of liberty The Irish Nationa
League, whose distinct and avowed purpose
is the establishment of the sovereignty O.
the Irish people in Ireland, is the embodi
ment of that spirit of liberty. 1t cannot be
suppressed, for its spirit is immortal II is
beyond the scope of Coercion Acts, for its
life is as endless as the life of race. The
shamrock on its banner, tear-bedewed in
its native bed, is the symbol of the glorious
union of that race in three homes separated
by the seas that divide continents, united
by the determination OF a race to achieve
the independence of nation.
As the Land League accomplished the
relief of class, the National League repre-
sents the aspirations and the resolve of al
entire people AS the farmers have beer
the chief beneticiaries of the struggles anG
sacrifices thus far made, the Irish people
throughout the world, who participate in
the struggles and share the sacrifices, ad
monish the farmers that they owe duty
to their country In an earnest support OF
the aims of the National League. We war;
them that until the chief object of the Ma
tional League is achieycd-national self.
government-their own position is still
unsafe. The National League aims MOI
merely at reduction of rents not merely
at a change from idle proprietors TO work
ing proprietors, but at the creation of com
plete national life and the development o
all the diversified industries which rcndel
a people self-sustaining and prosperous
The farmers are rightly admonishcd that il
they fail to extend to the laborers the fra
ternal aid they have themselves received
if they fail to encourage Irish products, tC
the exclusion of English goods; if they
hesitate to invest in domestic industries
they will be more odious in the sight of GOO
and man than the landlords from whose
clutch they have been released. We do not
desire in Ireland the substitution of petty
selfshness for gigantic robbery. The in
gratitude of the farmer will be more
despicable and more dangerous than the
tyranny of the landlords, because that in
gratitude will be treason to Il nation. The
economic and civil life of people can be
developed only by a sincere, noble and
effectual cohesion of all classes for the COM
mon welfare.
The work of the League in the United
States has been directed first to sending aid
to the treasury in Ireland, whose moderate
requirements, in the absence of any emer-
lightenment and soliditication of American
opinion While force is still able to pro.
long despotism, justice is not dependent on
arms alone. Ireland, unable to cope with
the empire that denies her constitution
and parliament, appeals from the bayonet
of her invader TO the conscience and the
mind of mankind, and asks whether hel
demands are not Just, and whether her pa
tience, her morality and her perseverance
have not been sublime. The American
mind is essentially practical, and during
the past year we have endeavOred to make
il acquainted with the practical aspects o.
English misrule in Ireland. We have asked
our American countrymeD to contem-
plate the impoverishing taxation, tho
crushed manufactures, the restricted edu
cation, the diminished agriculture, the
compulsory emigration of the peO
pie of ireland. We have asked the
American conscience to sCrutinize the cor
rupt and infamous judicial system grimly
maintained there for the torture and
slaughter of the people. We have asked
American freemen to contemplate the sup
preston Of free speech, the intimidation OF
the press, and the extinction of personal
liberty under an administration nominally
constitutional, actually a barbarous despot-
ism. The results of our labor are apparent
in the sympathetic unanimity with which
the American press sustain the struggle oi
our countrymen at home, and in the uni
versal expression of the public opinion o.
the Republic. Nor are these results mort
frankly recognized than by the press o
England, which no longer affects to under
rate the intelligence or the resources of the
Irish race throughout the world, or tC
despise its determination, or to be indifter
ent to the menacing bitterness of its mem
ory.
1t is now apparent to thoughtful men or
both sides of the sea that the interests O
the American republic are identical Will
the interests of Ireland. Every year tha
witnesses the denial of self-government fo
Ireland is year of taxation upon a con
siderable portion of the American peopl
for the support of the English crown il
Ireland The drain of money from tn
toilers of the United States to aid their kin
dred in Ireland will continue until tn
Government which they detest, and whicl
keeps them poor and dependent, is ex
PEELED. In whatever measure we enlist th
sympathy and the influence of the Ameri
can republic in behalf of the people of Ire
land, we render service to the republic
1t has been the practice of the English Gov
ernment for more than a generation t
drive vast numbers of the Irish people ol
small agricultural holdings into tou
and vicious dens called poor-houses
Being thus reduced to poverty, their chill
dren robbed of an opportunity to acquir
bread-getting skill, they have been force
into the pits of ocean vessels, and cast pen
niless upon the crowded cities of our sea
board. Here they have become unwilling
but helpless charges upon our communl
ties, or, by their blameless lack OF skill
and their creditable energy in seeking EN-
ployment, they have forced wages dow
along the lines where wages are lowest. II
directing the attention of our Government