The Irish standard., 1888-01-14


brought US the first imperfect report Of
President Cleveland's annual message
to Congress. The feeling at first was
one of intense pride and JOY at seeing
the great republic embarrassed by It's
own eyer-increasing wealth, while even
England's IS chief yearly difficulty was to
make the burden Of taxation balance
that of her ever-augmenting expendl-.
tare. And it is to us Americans, as VS.
tarry abroad among these bankrupt ma
tionalities of once feudal Europe, most
gratifying to see our own country held
up as a spectacle of wonder and aGrnira"
tion, while European governments are
yearly at their wits end to find money
to support their gigantic armamen5s.
| But if the first Cry elicited in Ireland by
the Presidents message was one Of sat
isfaction and pride at the sight of your
marvellous prosperity, the first cry in
Great Britain aud or the continent Was
one Of triumph at the prospect of your
casting aside protection and joining
haads with John Bull i'll propagating
the principles and blessings Of tree
trade. In this feeling of British eHul-
i tatlon we Americans abroad are far
from participating indiscriminateiy-
It.Wouid be strange, when even in Eng-
land unlimited free trade finds stdverss~
ries to-day in the very classes which,
helped Sir Robert Feel to inangurate it,
that we in the United States should
turn round and give it unqualified sup
port. The best friends OF Americas
within the thrse kiDgdons--eyen SUCH
as are British subjects-do not conceal
their conviction that il Congress should
emhody in practical legislation the
economical systera outlined in tbs
Presidents message. VIC should be-
stared in the face by industrial uncer
tainty, confusion and bankruptcy. +
! have, for one, long yearnsd to see Brit
ish and Swedish Iron, raw and manu-
factured, admitted free Ut duty in the
| United States, [ want to see the
American flag covering the largest car
rying trade On the Atlantic antl the
| Pacific Oceans. 1T would be to nae. as
10 millions of other American citizens,
O. subject Of congratulatioa if the ship
building industry were transferred from
the Clyde to our own magnificent e.
tuaries Of the East and West. yaarn
to see our sea-faring population the
most prosperous and the most success
fui in the world: nor do wish to SEE
the energies and practical intelligence Of
our people turned away from agricult--
urai pursuits, and all the arts and ii,--
dustries of which agriculture is the
parent, to be employed in che manu-
factures. We are not circurnstanceG
lilse the people Of Great Britain, coopst!
up within Z, narrow island, forced by
our geographical and climatic conditions,
TO manufacture articles for all the mar
kets Of the world, while depending OH
! ether lands for our daily bread anls
meat. and for the very raw materials;
needed by loom and steel shop and ship
yard Our legislators and statesmen,
are, or ought to be, enlightened enough,
discriminating enough, aid patriotic
! enough to help and protect oar laboring
millions IN 5neir dearest interests, both
against the depressing sellishness of
capital at home aud against a ruinous
competition froul abroad. Repeal Your
monstrous navigation laws. Ore te-
anew cur saip building industry. Let.
American shipping be the best, the:
swifCest, the safest, the most numerous
aud the most favored on every sea.
Aye, and create as well a navy capable
OF protecting them on every sea. Put
your seaboard along The Atlantic and
Pacific, even up to B hring's strait, in
a state of security against invasion or
insult. You can afford all this. The
country demands it. The nations ex-
pect it. Providence, who has been SO
magni6cently generous to us, requires
it asa duty toward. our people. Let us
lose no time in profting by the present
oyerlowiEg abundance to do what our
dearest national interests imperat;vely
demand of our government. Believe;
| me that there is growing up in India
among Its teernlng, thrifty and intelli
gent populations a formidable rival to-,
our western farmers, aye, and in the
East Indian cities, manufactures which
will soon claim favored place Oh the
markets of the world. I only hint,
here at things well known to careful
observers If Great Britain continues.
to hold her own in Hindostan and Bur-
nah, and to encourage there the growth
and progress of the agricultural and the;
industrial arts, within the next twenty
five years she will possess resources Of.
which We have now no conception. Let
America only be true 10 herself, ana
she can have nothing to fear either
from a generous commercial rivalry S
with the rest of :the world Or from the Il
or; enmity Of other naJiorl s.
and SO NAV 4 88B idayg d sprO Opl tiousl y aud
of:glQriDu pre, mise on the land or
Wasningto