The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-01-27
SATURDAY, JANUARY q, 1894.
A CALL TO BATTLE.

A CALL TO BATTLE.
William Lyman, of New York, is or
was the treasurer Of the aefunct Irish
National League Of America. For the
past two years he has achieved world
wide notoriety by issuing senseless mani
fsstoes calling upon the Irish people at
home and abroad to abandon parliamen
tary agitation and adopt warlit policy
for regaining their lost liberties. The
manifeetoes hitherto issued by Mr.. Ly-
man in his capacity of treasurer we're
also sigred by NJ. V. Cannon and John
p. Sutton, the president and secretary of
the organization during it's existence, and
evidently without their previ us knowl-
edge and consent. Indeed so indlscreet
were the utterances of Lyman on the
Irish question that the aforesaid gentle
men felt it their duty to repuaiate them
publicly.
The other day the irrepre ssible Lyman
issued another manifesto on bis own
hook and for tho first time omitted to
sign the names OF his confreres to it, for
which they may we'll feel thankful. This
latest production from the loquacious
Lyman was printed IN the Irish Repub-
lie, of New York, under the caption of
"a Call to Battle" but the associated
press reporters discovered it in the OBJ
scure journal and sent it laundering
round the world. The war.like Lyman
is bold, undaunted Irishman at safe
distance from the enemy, as the follow
ing precious extracts from his manifesto
abundantly shows: "Irishmen," says 1Iy-
man, ut has long since been demon
strated to you, as we'll as to the rest of
the world, that the only sound that has
effect on the English is the rattle OF mus
kerry or the roar of cannon, or, perhaps,
of mine explosion within their walls, SO
the sooner you abandon your finely
turned phrases, whether they be plati.
tudes OF threats, and become men Of &C.
zion, the sooner will the flag of the Irish
republic be given to the breeze. Re-
member this, that Ireland is in slavery
through the fault of each and every one
Of you, and that her cries beneath the
lash of stranger ascend in Judgment
against you" ... ..
He goes on in column and half OF
this kind of rigmarole and winds up as
follows: "Sink all your differences and
swear by all that is sacred to you that
never again will an unbr therly word be
spoken, never again wrong step taken
until the British empire hes hauled down
her flag, and thegreep, white, and orange
of the Irish republic is waving over Dub
lin. If you will do this you can strike
the British empire in every quarter OF
the plobe, and send her tottering to her
place among the dead empires Of the
past"
In Fenian days such war-like utter
ances as those used by MIR. Lyman would
be appropriate enough, but at the pres
ent time they are out of place. In the
days Of Stephens and O'Mahony thous-
ands upon thousands Of Irishnen be-
lieved in physical force for the esta blish.
ment of an irish republic, but change
has since come DER the spirit It their
dreams and they now aspire to a self
governed ireland as an integral part of
the British empire. In 1866 there was a
large military organization and Irish
patriotism was at fever heat. Now the
Irish people are cool and calculating and
will be satisfied with good measure of
Home Rule. The Irish in Ireland, and
they alone, are the people who have to
decide between an Irish republic and q
British colony. There is no indication
that they have the slightest desire for
republican institutions, and It they had,
there is no immediate prospect Of their
being able to secure national independ-
enee BY the sword. The Irish in this
country ought to cooperate with those at
home in obtaining q Home Rule parlia-
ment. If the British people do not grant
Home Rule it may be in order to speak
&c q i call to arms but not until then, and
somebody else besides NJ. Lyman will
nv h,ave % summon The Irish people to