The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1893-07-29

OF the Brltl6h claln clauKln8 20 Ills rags.
He may be naked, he shall not be in
irons. And do soc the time is at hand,
the spirit is gone forth, the declaration
is planted, and though great men should
apostatize, yet the cause shall live; and
though the public speaker should die,
yet the immortal fire shall outlast the
organ which conveyed it, and the breath
of liberty, like the word of the holy man,
will not die with the prophet, but sur
vive him.
The government, with the object Of &C.
complishing the union, had forced on in
certain counties the rising Of 1898.
With bribery, intimidation and promises
OF all kinds, with deluge of corruption
through the doors of the treasury fiow
ing over the land, and supported by an
army Of l75,O00 troops, they fastened
the event: No wonder Mr.. Gladstone
has declared that when he first studied
the Home Rule question he was tag
founded at the discovery of the shame
less crimes, the unspeakabls blackguard-
ism, by which the q ion was effected"
Grattan--broken in health, weary in
mind as we'll as in body over his coun-
try's misfortunes and the approaching
catastrophe--had just returned from a
sojourn in the Isle OF Wight, accompan-
led bv his wife, who was of the line OF
the Desmond Fitzgeralds, stock dear
to national memory south of the Shan-
non. Alfred Webb, in his interesting BIZ
ographies, tells us that then--early in
180O-Grattan was lying sick in bed at q
friends b use in Baggot street, when at
5 o'clock in the morning there was a
loud knocking at the door,. It was the
intelligence that the borough of Wick
low had just elected him it's member,
and horseman was sent in haste to
bring the return to town. The Union
then impended, the House was sitting
and in debate, and Grattan's presence
would be most important. So his wife
az ardent a patriot as himself-helped
her sick husband to dress and get down
stairs, and with blanket wrapped about
him he entered the sedan chair that was
to take him to College Green. There
had been wholesale executions in 17o8,
VIII n it was common thing to see dead
bodies hanging from lamp posts. And
the Dublin streets we're still at night in
a most unsafe condition, for the miscre
ants at the back of the government
agents could commit any crime that
would not displease their paymasters.
IT his movements were known, it was
possible that he might be attacked and
assassinated, and his wife saw him de-
part uncertain whether she would ever
see him alive again.
On the 10th Of January, 1900, when at
O'Clock in the morning the debate was
still proceeding, the sudden appearance
in Jh House of the founder Of the move
mont of 1782-now sick, weary, enact
ated .man-created profound sensa-
ton. He got leave to sit down while he
addressed the House, and for two hours
he stirred his hearers in way that
shamed many of the shameless. But it
was no use, for there was no real public
representation then aud the House was
carefully packed" A few weeks later,
after one Of the angry scenes then fre-
quent, Grattan and his opponent, Cory,
adjourned to field near Balls Bridge.
The interrupting sheriff, also coming on
the ground, was laid hands on and held
down in ditch, and the meeting closed
with Cory taken home severely wounded.
As stated in "G,attan's Life," by his
son, twenty eight counties ~petitioned
against the Union, with eight municipal
towns, twelve municipal corporations,
Dublin, and all the mercantile, manufac-
turing and trading interests of the king
dom. Only 1000 individuals petitioned
in favor of union, while 10000 free
holders and 707 900 others signed against
it.
Pitt had taken pains to make the
Catholics believe that he was prepared
to concede their emancipation after the
Union would be accomplished. After a
while it was tn ought that the Catholic
claims ought to be pressed at Westmin-
ster. Charles James Fox, that illustrious
English statesman Of Irish descent, and
Earl Fitzwilliam, an English nobleman
who was friend of Ireland, and on that
account had been recalled from his brief
viceroyalty, were among others desirous
that Grattan should take a seat in the
British Parliament for this purpose. He
consented, and it was the one OBJ
iect for which be labored there,
though in vain. When his last illness
set in, he could not be dissuaded from
going to London, and at the opening of
Parliament fulfill his promise Of present
ing fresh petition, and once more urg-
ing Catholic claims, but when he arrived
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