The Irish standard., 1888-01-14
DR., O'REILLY'S EXPLOITATION
To the People and Legislators
Of the United States
+. of America.
NOTES ON IRISH AFFAIRS.
The Rev. Dr. Believes in this Country
Creating Navy Capable Of Pro-
tecting Itself.

{! tectlng Itself.
| In a recent letter from Dublin the
reverend doctor, speaking first of Ire
land, next of this country, the Presi-
dents message and cognate topics,
wrote these vigorous sentences: The
sky of Ireland's hopes does not seem to
brighten to the dawn at the approach
| Of Christmastidea and of the new year Of
grace 1883. 1t would seem rs if the
threats of Secretary Balfour, mentioned
in the remarkable letter of your London
correspondent of October Is last, were
about to be fulfilled. Two of the Irish
leaders are already within the deadly
grasp Of the Scotch octopus. William
O'Brien and the lord mayor of Dublin.
The former-it requires. unhappily, no
prophet to foresee and foreteIl tiff
ever he leaves TuIlanore jail q living
man, will only leave it with q very
short lease of life. AS to q. D. Snlli-
van, the chief secretary relies On coldr
Jagged cell and the pitiless ferocity OF
Jaiier Feathers +onehaugh to do their
work On a frame never robust and no
Ionger3young. But T. D. Sulliyanjs Of
the heroic temper of Willie " Brien and
John Dillon. He will never quail be-
fore the utmost that Ralfour can in1}icG
of torture. Still, Dillon is abroad. els
kindiing the 6res of English sympathy
for Ireland from one end of Great
Britain to the other, and, at this mo-
ment, infnslng into the masses Of the
London btrgesses and workingmen the
spirit of righteous indignation which is
destined to sweep from power the en-.
tire Tory brood. The next leader to be
clutched by the far-reaching arm Of
Balfour is Timothy Harrington, who is
the soul of the National League, His
brother is already in Jail. He will soon
follow. Meanwhile the people, Con-
scious of the invincible strength Of
their own organization, trust to their
priests for guidance; and these are QUE
with o 'Brien and Sullivan, with Dillon
and Harrington. 1t is Il question Of
patience, as against ferocious despot-
ism armed with crushing coercion
act, backed by a Judiciary and 2
petty magistracy, the doci.e instru-
ments Of the executive, and supported
in every tyrannical measure by the
British army and the Royal Irish con-
stabuiary. tits hard, in the light Of
mere human wisdom, to see how Ire
Land, thus held within the pitiless ten
tacIes of the Salisbury-Balfour devil
fish, can escape political annihjlation.
Such is the terrible struggle for mere
existence which is going on in my poor
native land, as am preparing TO leave
it forever. and to turn my steps toward
Paris. My hope is in the unc,nqueEa
BILE spirit of the people, which rises to
subiimer height Of fortitude and hone
fulness as each act in the drama Of the
national resistance displays new depths
of suffering and despair And what
affords that hope a ground so firm is
that the heart of this much-tried nation
is Christian heart, rich in the rarest
virtues OF nature made beautiful by
God and }lallowed by the fidelity Of GEN.
turies. I trust also to the awakened
public opinion of the civilized world.
Feuda|ism, in the shree kingdoms, won
by the sword of William and his Nor
mans, is putting forth it's last supreme
effort to strangle in Ireland the senti-
ment of Celtic nationality. 1t is we'll that
in this last battle al! the wrongdoing,
the injustice. the cruelty, the brutality
should be on the side Of the feudai
landlordisrn, represented by Salisbury
and his worthy nephew. Were these
men and that Clanricarde, who is the
personiic OF blind. merciless land
lord greed, to succeed tomorrow in
crushing out all resistance, and IN ex-
terminating FROM the soil Of Ireland
the very last remnaut of her Celtic pop
uiation. their victory would be their
most terrible defeat, the final downfall
OF ,Gu1G 161uhA S1GtCu W1A'ciA Aeso OOSA
the bane Of the social freedom implant.
ed aud developed in Europe by Chris
tianity. But Salisbury and B alfour can
gather from the fierce manifestations Of
popular opinion which daily swell
louder and more angry around Down
ing street aud Buckingham Palace :
self, that the battle is going against
them in London and all over England.
This means the victory of Irish nation
ality. To my eyes. as they liuger fond
~ an this dear land of my f0refathers,
there is, then. a light which breaks vis-,
ably over the eastern horizon, aud gilds.
the skies Of this classic heroic s ,il. But
.all5the manifold and accumulated sufs