The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1886-09-03
' of their natures and

the unalloyed purity of their love of
liberty What a spectacle Ireland afford
ed TO the world when, al last one great
Englishman arose bold enough and wise
enough to do justice to her character
Ages of heartless oppression and bitter
wrong hundreds of thousands of martyrs
to Irish freedom, ages of stupid religi ious
persecution, ages of depopulation and
state-created famine, never ending insult
and ruthless calumny, all in that one
moment are forgotten, and the feeling
uppermost in the hearts of the Irish race
at home aud abroad wa gratitude to the
aged statesman who simply proposed to
do justice and anxiety for blessed
oblivion of the past" Who, in the way
of the reception given to the bill of Mr..
Gladstone, cramped and defOrmed as it
was by humiliating safeguards and un-
necessary limitations, will dare to say
that the principle of our movement is
merely race hatred of England
No; last April Ireland was ready to
forget and forgive. She was ready to
sacrifice mauy things for peace so long
as the one essential principle for which
she struggled was conceded. She was
willing on the day when the portals of
her ancient Senate house was reopened
to shake hands with her hereditary foe
and 10 proclaim peace between the
democraCieS of the two nations whom
the Almighty placed side by side to be
friends, but who had been kept apart by
the avarice, the injustice, and passions
of a few. Once again the policy of
concilIation has been cast aside by Eng
land. The English Viceroy, who repre-
sented the policy of liberty, and who for
the first time since 1895 was greeted by
the acclamation Of the pOpuIace in DUB
lin, has left our shores, and in his place
has come one bearing the hated name
of CasJlereagh. Once again all thoughts
of amIty with England have been ban
ished from the minds of Irisbmen, and
to-day we are once more face to face
with our hereditary foes. The same
cloud has descended once more upon our
land, but we have right to call on the
world to remember how brightly and
peacefully the Irish landscape smiled
during the brief sunshine of the last few
months. The duty of the moment is
clear. We have given England the most
convincing proof that on the concession
of liberty we can be tIusty friends it
now remains for US to prove for the
thousandth time that as slaves we Can
be formidable foes. | assert here to day
that the government of Ireland by EGG
land is an impOssibility, and believe it
to be our duty TO make it 80. Were our
people tamely to submit TO the yoke
which has once again been placed upon
their necks, they would be unworthy of
the blood which they have inherited
from fathers who preferred poverty TO
dishonOr, and death TO national slavery
But there is no danger of such disgrace.
The National Government is il the
hands of a man who can be bold as well
az cautious. and | claim the confidence
and support of the Irish i'll America not
only because they are animated by the
same principle and the same hopes as we
are, but because our movement at home
is conducted OF a wise and honest poll
cy. So long as we are true to the great
principle of Irish nationality, resolutely
refusing either to be bought or cOerced
from a rigid adherence to the full meas
uIe of national right, and so long as we
are able to point to our past policy as
honest aud successful, we say we and 40
others are entitled to decide for ourselves
upon Irish soil, and upon our OWE
responsibility, what our policy for the
future is to be. ibis is the condition
upon which you have given your support
in the past, and it is the condition upon
which alone we can accept your support
for the future. OF one thing, however,
you may rest assured the policy in
Ireland in the near future will be one of
fight. The chief of the present English
Government recently prescribed as a
remedy for Irish dis ;ontent, twenty
years coercion. He forgot the historical
fact that since the act of Union there
have been eighty six years coercion, and
that the spirit of the people is sterner
and higher to-day than ever it was be-
fore, For coercion he was qnite pre-
pared, and to coercion Lord Salisbury
will most assuredly be forced TO come,
though the policy of the new government
seems to be to try and stave off stern
measures for awhile. They will, howev-
eT, soon find out their mistake. To the
concession of justice and liberty there is
no alternative but coercion. To imagine
that Ireland could get along peaceably
for six months under the rule of a new
Castlereagh, is to set down our people as
crazy OF fools. In the coming winter
the laws of nature itself will forbid the
possibility of peace. The tenant farmers
of Ireland have played a part too little
known aud appreciated here. They
submitted TO untold privatioDs and SUIT
ferings and eXactiOns in patience and in
silence, lest by one word or act of theirs
they should embarrass their leaders in
Parliament or retaTd by one moment the
concession of Home Rule. Tue landlords
Of Ireland noted, but wholly misunder-
stood the meaning of, the change of
attitude. They mistook fOrbearance
and patriotism for cowardice- and toe
crowbar brigade once more set to work.
Still the tenants suffered in silence
Mr.. Gladstone proposed a Land bill
which would have bought out the land
lords at an extravagantly high figure,
yet the Irish tenants were ready, because
it was coupled with the concession of
Home Rule, to pay this exorbitant sum
as the price to be paid for national free
dom. Bot all motive for forbearance
on their part is now gone the sands
have run through the hour glass. and
the old fight between landlord and tenant
must revive if the people are not to be
swept out Of existence while they are
waiting for Home Rule. Once moro
Irish landlords have behaved with unnc.
countable stupidity and folly. They
have once more stood between Ireland
and her freedom, and have refused even
an extravagsnt price for their land, be-
cause the offer was coupled with the
concession of an Irish Parliament. So
De lt. believe the last offer has been
made to Irish lsndlOrdism. The ultimate
settlement of this question must now be
reserved for the Parliament of Ireland.
and meantime they must take care to
protect themselves and their children
In many parts of Ireland l assert that
rent is to-day an impossibility, and IN
every part of Ireland the rents demand
ed are eXOrbitant and cannot and will