The Northwestern standard., 1886-04-10
TIT: IMMORTAL. graf TAN.
One Of Ireland's Most Eloquent, Illustricus
and Patriotic Sons 'The Noblest
Roman Of them All"
AN HONORARY GRADUATE AT II.
4 Brief Sketch Of the Life Of this Fearless
champion and Defender Of Right and
Justice to His Native Land.

go ES}NbV-SlA years tts3U IA pAAo
/. glory Of fair June day, the stately
portals Of Westminster Abbey were
opened to receive the body OF henry
tan--arad in that sepulchfe OF kings,
no kinglierashes lie. Among the many
gifted and wonderful names that Ire
land has handed down to posterity,
there are few whose lives and deeds
shine with so undimmed a lustre, as
those Of her gifted and immortal son
Henry Grattan At seventeen years OF
age, an honored graduate OF Trinity
College, he is already preparing himself
for admission to the Irish bar. thus
taking upon his boyish shoulders. that
mantle of toll, which in age still hung
upon his worn and enfeebled body, and
in which he died, in the cause of Cath
olic Emancipation. Who can fail to
give everlasting honor to the man, who,
though q Protestant himself, gave the
sympathy and friendship of his whole
life, and his last effort to public official
duty, to the oppressed Catholics Of his
native isle.
lrorn the day when Grattan (per-
suaded by his friends to abandon law
andsnter the Irish Parliament entered
# upon bis public career, until his last
fatal journey to London, from which he
never returned, his life is q history
whose every page is bright with moral
and intellectual greatness. The fol-
lowing extract taken from the speech
4 In which he made his famous demand
for the constitutional independence OF
the Irish Parliament and the Irish ma
tion, needs no comment upon his patri
otisrn and eloquence. ''I wish for
nothing, he exclaimed, "but to breathe
in this our island, in common with my
fellow-subjeets the air of liberty. |
have no ambition, unless it be the am
bition to break your chains and to con-
template your glory. j will never be
satisfied so long as the meanest cottag-
er in ireland has a link5of the British
chain clanking to his rags He may be
naked, but he shall not be in ironsp'
His gigantic labors may be considered
as enc Of the leading elements in the es-
\ t;ablishmant of legislative independence
for ireland, which he sawaccomplished
in 1882; a fact which some writer says,
would have preserved his memory in
history, even if his eloquence had not
jmnortalized his name.
The personal love and reverence of all
classes of his countrynen We're his III
life and in death, and he compelled
even the most antagonistic of his coli
leagues, in public life, to pay the trib-
ute of unqualified respect to his charac-
ter and integrity. As All exponent OF
the greatness of Irish genius, as well as
an example OF high fectitnde IN every
relation Of life, his character is well
worth study.
In the forty-fve years OF his public
life he was the fearless champion and
defender Of right and justice to his ma
tue land. His courage was undaunted
and his genius for mastering difficulties
astounding. Of wide information and
ready tact, he was never the victim of
an emergency. Of scholarly tastes aud
industrious habits, his leisure was
spent in study and research, and in
mental requirements he was among the
first men of his time. Being Irish, he
had D warm heart and fertile fancy,
and was endowed with genuine humor.
( He was none the less a sympathetic
friend and genial companion, because
lie was a profound philosopher and
statesman. One of his biographers
elequence, the vivid nature, the eager
mind, the cordial sympathy and aspir-
i1ag soul of the Irishman;' while Byron
weayes this garland to his memory
.a.With all tia. omosthenes wanted endowed,
And his rival or master, IN all he possessed.
He possessed no gift that was not his
country's, every resource OF his compre
hensive information was taxed in her
interests, and every energy of his loyal
nature conape led TO snbserve her needs.
3 He knew no ambition save Ireland S
progress, and slrunK from no condi-
tion save treachery and dishonor. 1t
would take the pen Of q drama list to
portray the scene OF his last speech in
the parliament house, when dlsunion
and English gold had done their de-
structive work. and the Irish Parlia-
melat was in its death-throes. Weak
and wasted by illness, and SO feeble
that he was unable to stand while
speaking, he came and entered his pro-
Test to the Union IN a speech, which
alone would be enough to-
Circles his name with a charm against death, Z
! Il it. were the only one he ever made.
This was his concluding sentence
4 gainst such proposition, were ex-
( piring on the floor, should beg to
utter my last breath, and record my dy-
Ing testimony q
'''astice lives, though Judgment lingars'