The Irish standard., 1888-05-12
THE SITUATION IN IRELAND.
Attorney NJ. v. Cannon, of Omaha. Ex-
presses Himself Plainly on
the Subject.
HE PARLIAMENTARY PARTY'S

THE PARLIAMENTARY PARTY'S
Need of Assistance at the Present Juncture
in the Great Struggle for
Freedom.
Hon. John Fitzgerald, President Of
the Wish National League Of America,
and Attorney M. V. Cannon, formerly OF
Davenport, Iowa, but now q resident OF
Omaha, visited Duluth recently. the oc-
casion being of purely business nature.
Members of the Duluth branch of the
Land League. learning of the presence
OF the above gentlemen amongst them,
called meeting in the municipal court
room and decided to invite the dis
tinguished visitors to address the people
of that city upon matters pertaining to
the cause Of the Irish people i'll the old
land before their departure. 1t was &C.
cepted, and though but little time was
allotted in which to advertise the same,
nevertheless Ingalls, hall was we'll
crowded upon the night of the meeting.
Judge Stearns presided and in a neat
speech introduced the speaker of the
evening, Hon. M. Y. Cannon, who de-
livered one of those masterly and schol-
arly addresses that have made him noted
throughout the length and breadth of
the Northwest. President Fitzgerald
followed in brief but pithy speech. It
is just to say of him that no more ear
nest or faithful worker in the cause-in
time and out of time-exists in this
country to-day. His heart and soul are
in the work, and if his advice would be
followed, as expressed at Duluth, there
would soon be thousands of League
branches in our land where now we can
count but hundreds. Hon. R. A. Co.'S
tello, who served as a member in the
Minnesota State legislature, also spoke
briefly but pointedly upon the occasion.
An IRISH STANDARD representative,
who happened to be in Duluth when
President Fitzgerald and party were
there, called upon these gentlemen at the
st. Louis hotel, and in an interview
with Hon. NJ. V. Cannon, that gentle
man said:
There is an unaccountable apathy
which has overcome Irish and Irish
Americans in the Northwest. [ am
confident that the patriotic purpose is
there as of yore, though latent. There
has never been time in the history Of
the movement when the Parliamentary
party needed to have it's hands strength
ened more than now. They are in the
very midst of the severest trials to
which the Irish people have been ex
posed of late years by a coercion act
openly and expressly passed for all time.
People are deprived Of the commonest
rights Of freemen. The landlords of
Ireland, by means of rack-rents, have
always been enabled to keep the Irish
tenants in arrears, and now practically
deprive them of the benefits, if any, to
be derived from the land courts by hold
ing them bound to their payment, as
those in arrears, which are the great
mojority, cannot take advantage of
those courts. 1t is this point which
lends force and power aud justice to the
Plan OF Campaign. Bills have been in-
troduced b. Mr.. Parnell and others
dealing with the questions Of arrears
and to the stoppage of evictions, and
while openly admitting the justice of
their provisions, the English govern
,nent has contemptuously refused to
deal with them. This made necessary
of the tenants, taking into
account falling prices and great compe-
tition to pay the landlord stated sum,
which would be no satisfaction Of rent
aud arrears, and failing to accept the
tenants in body on estates,
lodged the money with third per-
sons until the landlords thought
better of the situation. In this
way they forced. in many instances,
compliance with what all the world
knows 10 be their reasonable demand.
They found means to relieve them
selves from intolerable tyranny, and
English Catholics and Irish Oran gemen
have endeavored to convince Rome that
this is a great sin. Abstracc]y the papal
position is correct. AS applied TO the
actual relation between landlord and
Ireland it has neither point 5r
As to the second position,
that of ''social interdiction," Irish far
mers have had q long and varied exper
ience of the animal known as the land
grabber. He is usually the favored spy |
and informer of an estate who carries to
bis master the sayings and doings of
The tenantry who lngratiates himself
into his favor by petty meanness and
sycophancy. and who, when
evictions take place, by grabbing for
bis nelghbor's land, enables the land
lord to point to q competit which cam