The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-03-05
mr. PheInn on Robert Emmet.


Mr.. Phelan spoke substantially as
followe:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN Tonight
we are assembled not merely to do
honor to him whose name is on the
lips OF Irishmen and the children of
ITishmen in all quarters of the globe,
but also to keep fresh and green the
principles for which he gave his noble
yourg life. Under the sun OF India,
where strange people worship strange
gods, among the wild races Of Africa,
in Australia, in Canada, among the
beautiful islands of the tropic seas, be-
fore the Golden Gate of California,
anywhere and everywhere the exile
children OF Ireland may be on this
eventful day their thoughts turn to
the land from which they sprang with
admiration and devo ion and passion
ate love. The Irish no longer live in
Ireland alone. The oppression which
drove them from their homes has seng
her emissaries to the nations OF all the
world to tell the tale of Irish wrongs
and to plead for and win the sympa-
thies OF ell noble nations. America
to-day is called the greater Ire
land beyond the sea', and we
who are Irish and Irish-AmericaDs
assemble this day TO show
the world that Emmett died not in
vain. 1t is ID US who are Americans
first and Iriehmen secoud, a peculiarly
pleasing thought, that the last hope
that thrilled the heart CT Emmett ere
the final despair had settled upon
him was that he might escape TO
America to begin new life and win
a new fame. Then, as now, America
was the refuge for the down-trodden
and the oppressed of all people. But
twenty-seven times had the sun in
Heaven made glorious the day on
which America had declared that the
republican independence was no
LONGER a dream OF philosophers or a
tradition OF ancient history, when the
spirit of Emmett, leaving the earth be-
low, lit a new star in the armament oil
Irish history, a star which from that
day to the present, has been the
Bethlehe7a star Of promise shining in
the east over the birthplace OF Irish
independence, and by the grace oil
God it never before shone so bright
80 brilliantly as in this year of oul
Lord, 1886. The fourth OF July snC
the fourth Of March, how wide apar
they stand, and yet how each typifeI
the history CT the people who cele
brate them. On the one hand thu
great heart Iof q people hap
ply proud and prosperous swelli
with gratitude to Him who has sen
the puTest and most radiant Of all Hi
angels 10 dwell among them forever
the spirit Of Liberty. On the other
like the faithful when the voice o
the mezzuin is heard from the minare
that crowns the mosque Of the caliphs
a people cease from the active pursuit.
| OF daily life to meet together, to take
new vows, to draw closer the bonds o
union and sympathy that knit togethe
the Irish race to old Ireland herself
The voice that calls them is that o
Emmett himself. Here Mr.. Phelar
gave historical review Of the attemp
of Robert Emmett to capture the castlt
at Dublin, and to use this as the in
cept on of struggle for the freedom
Of Ireland. He called attention to tn,
TACT that Emmet's attempt was thu
weakest and the most impracticable O
all the uprisings of that era, and ex
planned how it was that men like Graf
tan, Flood, Curran, 0'Connell, Davis
Mea2her, Mitchell and others wer
passed over, and that Emmett had be
come the national hero. There wer
various reasons, to be found in tn
character of Emmett himself-the fac
that he appealed to physical force
which Grsttan and 0'Connell rC
pudiated, the romantic part &
HE career, the circumstances {
his execution and most {
all to the eloquent speech whic
lifts him as an orator above the hea
of Sidney Russell or Mirabeau. ]