The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1886-09-02

CENT SPEECH, DELIVERED IN LINER
lex IN 1s4S.
[NoTE.-On the evening Of March 81,
MeSsrS. O'Brien, Mitchell, and Meagher.
were arrested on a charge of segfition.
The next. bail vas accepted for their APP
pearance before the Court of Queens
Bench, ON the first day of the approaching
term. The nationalists of nearly every
town in Ireland availed themselves of the
opportunity to express their approval Of
the conduct of the arrested parties. In
Limerick, the members of the Confeder-
ate Clubs invited them to a banquet In
consequence of an article in the United
Irlshmdn rejecting on Mr.. O'Connell,
''certain parties made it the pretext of
creating a disturbance and assailing the
meeting. A violent attack was directed
against the house, and a scene of the most
disgraceful and tumultuous uproar en-
sued. 1t was not until some shots were
| fired from the interior of the building that
the mob desisted. The mayor arriving
! with the police and military the mob was
finally dispersed.
| At the banquet. Thomas Francis Meag-
delivered the following speech, which was
| received with boundless enthusiasm:
Mr. Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen
| The occurrence of this evening do not
dishearten me- ! am encouraged by SYM
pathy, and can, therefore. forgive the
rudeness of the rabble.
Nor do l conceive that our cause is in
jured by these manifestations of ignor-
! ance and immortality. The mists from the
marshes obscure the sun-they do not faint
they do not extinguish it.
Enough of this. The wrongs and perils
of the country must exclude from our
minds every other subject of considera-
ton.
| From the summer of 1916. to the winter
of 1S4S, the wing of an avenging angel
swept our soil and sky. The fruits of tie
earth died as the shadow passed, and they
who had nursed them into life read in the
withered leaves that they too, should die !;
and, dying, swell the red catalogue of
carnage in which the sins and splendors of
that empire-of which we are the prose-
cuted foes-have been immortalized. And.
whilst death thus counted in his spoils by
the score. we, who should have stood up
between the destroyer and the doomed
we who should have prayed together,
marched together, fought together, to save
the people-we who are in arms-drilled
inf of r;
each other across the graves that each day
opened at our feet, instead of joining
hands above them, and snatching victory
from death.
! The cry of famine was lost in the cry of
) faction and many a brave heart, flying
from the scene, bled as it looked back up
, on the riotous proclamation in which the
} worst passions of the country were en-
gagged.
: You know the rest-y0u know the oc.
currences of the last few weeks. At the
I very hour when the feud was the hottest
voice from the banks of the Seine sum
, monad us to desist. That voice has been
obeyed-we have trampled upon the whims
3 and preludices that divided us-and it is
this event that explains the sedition in
r which we glory. The sudden reconstruc
t tion of the regenerative power which, il
7 1913, menaced the integrity of the EN-
pire, and promised liberty to this island
r dictated the language which has entitled
s US to the vengeance of the minister, ani
: the confidence of the people.
q Not this alone. 1t is not in the langnag,
1 of the lawyer, Or the police magistrate
: that the wrongs and aspirations of an OPP
q lresss nation should be stated. For the
: pang with which it writhes-for the pas
: sion with which it heayes-for the chafeC
!. heart-the burning brain-the quickeninl
d pulse-the soaring soul-there is a Ian
d .snage quite at variance with the gram
S mar and the syntax of a government.
]. is generous, bold and passionate. It oftel
e CLOVIS with the fire of genius-it sometime
n thunders with the spirit of the prophet
n Concluded ON fourth page.l