The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-08-10
lBLB APPE.A| For / ] UNITY. | !
Speech Of T. P. 'connor, Mem
Der. Of Parliament, at clon-
/. mel, Tipperary. Il
IA Parliament Promised for Ire
land Years Ago. But Famine
and Desolation Followed.
How Funds Were Stopped in
America as Soon as Dis
union Took Place.

alnion Took Place.
| One DC the most mastery addresses
Tor the Irish unity was that delivered
recently in Clonmel, Hpperary, by T..
r. O'Connor, member Of parliament,
from which the following extracts are
made: s5,5 81. s@. #
& People have been constantly asking
me since Il came to ireland: What is
England going to do?'' Now, j think
that question, especially when put by an
Irishlnan, does not recognize accurately
che satuation. What England may do is
ofimportance, especially to Englishmen.
What England may do is Of Importance
20 Irishmen, too, but, Mr.. Chairman.
the real question for Irishmen, the real
importance for Irishmen Of the issue to
be decided, Is not what England will do.
nrSscotland will do, or Wales will do.
TfIE REAL QUESTION FOR US IS
!, =fsS5;ss ,sss s. WHAT WILL IRELAND DO? d Il
WHY "a Irish Parliament was to sit
IN College Green In '45 or '46, but in
stead of an Irish Parliament and Irish
liberty and Irish prosperity you had the.
4 fauaine and million deaths by the road
side and two millions Of exiles in a few
years afterward. Take our own time.
We should have had Home Rule long ago
if the Irish representatives were really
representatives, not merely of the con-
victions, but also of the tactics which tho
Irish situation demanded. Isaac Butt
had an overwhelming majority of the,
Irish representation. He had 68 or 20
followers N who I. were nominal Home
Rulers Did they do anything effective
for Ireland? No; they were absolutely
Ineffective and impotent for good for Ire-
land, for this reason, that when one went
intosthe Tory lobby another went into
The Liberal lobby, and il they had 80
or 40 supporting the Tories and 80 or 40.
supporting the Liberals, the two Sec
tions balanced each other, and the En-
glish ministry despised and, defled them.
birth. Take the case Of the movement
through whichEI have lived myself I
sentered Parliament in 1880, and there
.were70 members pledged to Home Rule.
They had scarcely met when q division
took place. Some Of the Irish members
nat on the Liberal side OF the house and
the rest on the oppo position side Of the
house. What was the result? My coll
I. leagues and myself were making war On
the coercionist Liberal Ministry, as we
&. would bet ready to make war on them
under similar circumstan nces again-for
! It is not to be supposed that any genuine
Irish Nationalist could make any, diff
/ ference between a coercionist whether
he was an English Liberal or an English
Tory. We made war upon them, but we
found that when a division was called
In the. House Of Commons, 30 OF 40 Irish
members went into the lobby in sup
E nort Of the government, while 20 or Is Of
\ M went into the opposition lobby, so that
onr votes unterbalanced and destroyed
each other, and consequently the govern
ment were able to defy us for five years,
\ and coerce the people at their own sweet
will. s5.
But we must take politics as we find
them, and we dnd that the ear of man
kind is wide open for the smallest whis-
1 per Of dissent or disunion among Irish
men. Supposing the seventy-two mem-
bers OF the party were to make speeches,
and s,lpposing seventy-one of the seventy,
two were reported verbatim, and that
all these speeches in the fullest sense
were in favor Of unity and harmony. and
II one OF the seventy-two were to make
q speech. OF three sentences Of revolt
and dissension, not ,one word Of the
seventy-two speeches In favor of unity
would be listened to by the world but ali
the world would BE ringing with the
three sentences Of the one man in revolt.
ls that not true? ! know a good deal Of
the Irish world at home and abroad. r
know the cable 5correspo dents Of the
American press and need hardly say
our cause depends as much upon the
good will and friendship of our people
IN America as on the good will and
/ know that there is not an, innrndent
word, a hot word. q q rash word /. 81. g word
:sof revolt uttered ii the smallest; and
most remote parish Ia ireland that ;is NOT
gathered up and echoed and rs-echoed un-
til the whole world has to stop ana hear
\ It. We must accept that fact Deny it
M you can. Blind yourslf To- It a. III can
4 SM you blind yourself t0 lit when yon cam
mot deny it, then you blind yourself ff,s