The Dillon tribune., 1885-08-22
THE IRIsH-AMERICANs
A Proclamation by the National Com
mittee,


The National Committee Of the Irish
National League held meeting in Chi.
cago on the 18th for the purpose OF fixing
date for holding National Convention.
The Committee issued the following proc.
lamation:
In obedience to the suggestion Of the
chosen leader Of the people of ireland, the
National Committee of the Irish National
League Of America, assembled to desig.
nate the time and place for holding the
next National convention Of the League
in the United States, has decided to post
pone the date Of meeting until January,
1856. 1t must be manifest to all members
OF the League and all friends of self gov.
ernment in Ireland that it would be i'm.
possible either for Mr.. Parnell to attend
the convention in this country or to send
any of his able associates pending the
general election, which will probably oc.
cur next November; hence the wisdom OF
his wise suggestion that the convention be
postponed. In the meantime, however,
the League should inaugurate period of
activity not less earnest and energetic than
that which prevailed when Ireland was
threatened with another artificial famine
and when her leaders were imprisoned
and the press silenced under the so.called
Liberal government. The party led by
MIR. Parnell needs support. How we'll
that support is deserved we need hardly
tell the world. Assuredly we need not
tell men Of Irish birth or descent. Serv.
ing without compensation, without official
power or patronage, among aliens who
have prosecuted and who have sought to
degrade them, being numerically less than
one.twentieth of the body in which they
have achieved success unparalleled in
the history Of struggles for free govern.
ment, by their ability, their unity, their
discipline, their faith in the justice of their
cause and BY their restless labors, they
have forced not only their enemies, but
the world to look upon their oppression
and to listen to the recitals Of an outraged,
plundered, ,nisgoverned people. They
have with matchless skill seized upon
every opportunity to thrust before
the world their cause. 1t is one 'ch
will bear the scrutiny Of the light. ney
never allowed it to be hidden. They
blockaded the legislation Of the English
Parliament. The objected to, postponed
and defeated local legislation intended to
foster and expedite the English business
interests in retaliation for the dull, brutal
Indifference which was shown to Irish in.
terest For the first time in English his.
tory it was impossible to extend the fran.
chise privileges in England and Scotland
without giving Ireland absolute equality
in the extension. While they have not
been able to compel the government to
disgorge the surplus of the unexpended
fund raised to support the now disestab
lished church, they have wrung from the
champions Of that colossal robbery an ad-
mission that it belongs to the people of
Ireland, and they have compelled the re.
turn Of a portion of the stolen funds. They
have not secured the land of Ireland for
the people of Ireland, but they have forced
the enactment Of legislation which, al
though inadequate in effect, is so cxtraor.
dinary in its terms and confessions as to
amount to confession of the enormity of
the system which has SO long ground down
and impoverished the Irish people. They
have not been able to get back Grattans
parliament for Ireland, but they boldly
announce that no lesser measure will be
accepted by them, and, pending its resto-
ration, though prohibited from governing
Ireland, they have been able to dictate
who shall cease, and who may assume the
work of governing England. They have
driven the party OF coercion, the party of
judicial murderers, the party of eviction,
the party who vainly sought to imprison
ideas when it thrust men in dungeons, the
party led by Gladstone, who wrote, boast
ingly, of the downfall of the American
Republic, in disgraceful retirement from
Dublin Castle, and they have shown that,
while Dublin Castle was the home Of So
called English liberalism and the seat of
tyranny, its unnatural vice and imported
bestility made it only worthy of a site in
ancient Sodom and Gomorrah or modern
London. Their labors have been hercu-
lean. Their accomplishment, under the
most adverse circumstances, are almost
miraculous. When they next appear in
Parliament their numbers will be increased