The Irish standard., 1896-11-07
lI1|.R|.l|J'G(L,ES 4 1. I ] | | 4 OF TAY PAY
a ze \: Tells in a Raey Way oi the
~ Men and Women He Has.
f1et in His Career.
u Sketch Of John Bright and the
n. preston He Usually Made Up
Sss on the People.
r Photographs Never Give a True
Idea of the Great English
commoner.

I sss sf3 1ss 81 Commoner.
had very little personal acquaintance
with John Bright, and yet a. personal in
Stgrsst in which he figured formed land
5 mark in my life. I was a. young reporter
than a year at my Professionalism
john Bright paid the famous visit to Ire
ID land N 1868, which produced such remark
ssNsAble results. He was on a visit to Mr..
SPeabpdy, an old friend CT his, who had a
& salmon fishery near Limerick, and the oc-
q @sscas.on was naturally utilized by the local
Z Liberals to elicit a speech from the great
II English Tribune. We were then in the
SHilidst of the great fight over the disestab-
lisanent Of the Irish Church. To tell the
truth, it was not an agitation that deeply
stirred the popular heart in ireland. Then,
H as now, the national question is the one
which enters most deeply into Irish feel
n ings and the disestablislnen of the
& church, to a certain extent; was regarded
as a conflict between English parties, which
4 concerned Ireland but very little This was
II partly due to the fact that the Fenian
movement was doing its active and subter-
Fanean work, and that aslarge body Of
i Irishmen-the young, the enthusiastic, and
S the sanguine--Were filed with the far
wilder and more enhancing dream Of a
struggle for national independence. And
3 yet u recall very distinctly from that epoch
ia little incident which struck me and q
& companion as some Indication OF the new
T and better spirit in which ireland was
about to be treated by: British statesman
Il ship. 4 was walking along the quays in
4 ~, I< ,,.tc r1-sfN
n another reporter, when we heard mill
ta1y band pass, and as it passed it played
est Y St. Patrick's Day It aston.shed us aus
}5much as French Republican might have
been when he heard for the, first time the
81 AIarse.l .llaise" played, after twenty years
3 Suppression in the dying hours of the Third
JSI1mpire. 55t33s
ssffS sffS Let me pause for moment to try and
4 give the English readers some ..dea Of the
feelings with which the young IriHhmen Of
my epoch were brought up TO regard the
British government. I was born in a gar
h Srispn town, and to this day atsthe sound q
II flies and dr,aIns-abGys all when they
Wat Ill The aoueitts ard
$of my boyhooa still mentally oall the
Il t5ss...British Grenadiers'' -t1here comes over
me a wave Of keen emotion. ~ see once
again the little town in w lssch ! was born.
see even more distinctly the idreamiand---
with the light that never was on land or
.Ssea--in which passed my boyhond,s Yer
4 lily, L feel as a child again. The only thing
3 that st.rs$ me as deeply lis the bug,e that
is sounded at night, and which we used to
Interpret as saying, In: long, melancholy,
s$menacing accents, Black H-o-o-o-o-oole,
q Back o-o-o-o-o-ole, "A sound which re-
calls to me the keen and sometimes indig-
sp1- ,E
4 the poor unhappy soldiers to whom these
Afateul notes meant punishment in the dark
,aceIl, ard other horrors which childish I'M
&agination,. is 50 ready to conjure up. The
sss s,ns of the government were everywhere
aSein this townr--in the ancient and strongly
Il bull castle @W.ltch has stood for centuries,
Ssin the great barracks, In the artillery bat
&Ite1y with stlange cellar and subterranean
s5lnysterie,s, and the small stone with the ar
sEroWe which marks the ground at certain
s regular distances. f'The Governm EMIT
n was a word chat represented strange nix
;A#ture of ..deas-it was at once awe inspiring,
H s0innipotent. malignant, mysterious, and re
Ssmote; in short the Irish boy of my town
is SissA1ad epoch had something towards it of the
Ssanae feeling With which the Indian regard
Ssea the mighty authority which found its
\ imp personstion in the terrible person OF
Il Warren Hastings or Lord Clare..sS
ss#s3sTlle new idea OF government that
@swas friendly first began to make its way
sRyvilen Mr.. Gladstone s. government; of
1853 came into office, and that band is
II the first recollection have OF under
#atandjng that this new light had come
Il into Irish life. But it was but a CLEAN,
same moment this land wan craumed
soldiers. Young men were joining
#Stheys ilisuTrectionary movement by the
u Score every night in the. public houses
along the same quay on which stood
9HfOS hear the English band play the Irish
tune. n. Many were starting on the career
n aich ended in the torture and horrors
M M tuf srenal servitude-in insanity--in sui
VI n painful and early and sometimes
aolent death. Z
srhi.s was the inaammable and wildly
n excited country Which John Bright Wis,
81 itedf at his moment. I all, sure that he
n n Had very lite real conception OF the per-
and volcanoes over Whseh he was
N tr gading; or if he had he was. at the
sfi ne 4 SC profoundly dissatisfied with
u sfasy raatna ent OF Ireland by England that
sTas ready to understand. if not tc
ayeyter tate, even violent o!1tbursts OF ma
sS2EunaI revolt remember welt that g
q
speeeh he made at the moment in some
y inglish town, and practically declared
Il Il sasststs the person who used such 1anguage
h h f1ssk ltsto be tried fer high treason. And
mn ttingly and unintentiunally, UNI
y u this visit OF Mr.. Bright helped
Ii sSo bring into being some OF the move
VI u HUI which he found himself in the
II ii sss antag gonism in the closing days
HI life. $ AL 5g@ 3tt 5a 81 81.
fSts E1emen Der as distinctly as though il
SSa sYesteT ayS sslle impression which ths
III sapeech# #I heard from the lips Of
9sy IHIfS hit made upon me. More po-
I te lseve, han the song Of even the
est5 list, in its effects, and its
l. iiis. i8 the voice of d, great orator. ID
u i|f the moment as though Iszwere
ellhound as if I were
EEsss tos some ne and spectral
;ss3S long to ordinary
sslS sS on more tIIl do
s' I'M thou gh some pf them
"a "a sjlst turned
y WIFI ~ Ias f1eat #Irl Hi NFas seen shy I
/