The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1889-04-20
RUSSELlS STIRRING PLEA.
In the Memory Of Man 1t Has 10 Par.
allel in British Court of
Justice
IS GLOWING PER0RATl0N.

'"rhis Inquiry, Intended as Curse, Design
ed to Ruin One Man. Has Proved
Blessing"
Sir Charles Russell. says New York
Sun cable dispatch of the 10Th inst, de
, voted All hour and half to-day to the
condensation and collation. of the
Times libels. quoting with crushing
effect the Attorney Generals language
in formulating them, and contrasting
herewith the pitiful attempts made to
substantiate them. At noon she orator
commenced a superb peroration, which
closed half an hour later in scene of
emotional enthusiasm unparalleled in a
British courtof justice within the mem
ory of man.
Commencing with these singular ap-
posite lines:
Call him the blackest names, spread calumnies
All art can think and pregnant spite devise;
Strike home, cash deep, no lies nor SANDERS
spare.
A wound though cured. yet leaves behind scar.
Sir Charles reminded the court THAI
they were trying the history Of ten years
of revolution in Ireland, partly social,
partly political but while they were sit
ting in Judgment there the tenants of
Ireland were reaping by legal process in
courts, legally established, the fruits of
that revelation. The Government Of
Ireland was carried on by representa-
tiYes of @ small minority, who held ali
the positions Of executive power and
authority, state Of things unknown in
any other country of the world sup.
DC se} to possess constitutional privi-
leges.
Here the fierce denunciation of the
Castle system by Chamberlain before he
became a coercionist was skillfully
quoted and emphasized by an eloquent
contrast between England, where the
executive stood apart from the ordinary
administration of the law, and Ireland,
where the Executive set the law in mo-
tion. If there WAS a gleam Of return.
ing health across the face of Ireland,
God be thanked, but could that country
be healthy which had twenty-five OF it's
Parliamentary represent tatiyes in prison,
not for Otlenses regarded as crimes by
men of moral sense, but for deeds
which caused them to be regarded with
sympathy by a large section of the En-
glish, and as heroes and martyrs by the
whole Irish race? 1t was because Par
nell and his colleagues had planted in
the Irish breast the hope that the ano-
malous and diseased state Of things
must come to al end that those mer
stood at their Lordshlp's bar.
Then the orator deeply stirred the au-
dience bv a touching picture of the
transformation of the Irish peasant-serf
OF 1879. standing trembling with bated
breath and whispering humbleness III
the presence of the landlord, agent. and
bailiH in the hollow of whose hands
verify lay his earthly fate, and the
peasant of to day, erect AS became a
free citizen in q free community, al
though the career of his Liberty was act
yet complete:
| In the dark days before Ireland began
to speak in the voice of united peo-
pie secret organizations burrowed be-
meath the surface Of society and consti-
tuted a great social and political factor
in the land. To-day, thank God for it,
the great mass of the people have been
won to bending their energies to plac-
ing their hopes upon constitutional
means Of redress. Then the great mass
of the people we're possessed of feel
ing Of despair for past efforts made and
unrequlted sacrifices; to-day hope is
strong, is buoyant in their breasts.
Then they looked upon their country
men in this land with dlstrust if not
with hate; to-day they are willing to
hold out the hand of brotherly friend
ship. to let bygones be bygones; and to
| let forever be buried the memories of
persecution and bygone misery. Then,
my Lords, perhaps the most hopeful
change of all, the people OF this country,
busted in their own concerns, knew lit
tie of Ireland; now they have taken
this question to heart. and, recognizing
the truth that misrule in Ireland means
weakness to the empire, they have taken
an interest in the solution Of this ques-
ton in recent years which was formerly
unknown.
| Nv Lords, [ have come to an end. I
haye spoken not merely as an advocate,
| l have spoken of the land of my birth;
but feel, profoundly feel, that have
been speaking in the best interests of
England Of rhe country where my years
of laborious life have been passed, and
where have received kindness and
reconsideration and regard which / shall
! be glad TO make an attempt to repay