The Irish standard., 1896-09-05

convinced ma that was not going the right
| way about addressing an American audi
ence. Nor can say that / even found
an Irish meeting in the United States as
hot and as easily moved as an audience in
| this country Men used to come UP. to me
with eager faces after meetings in: Amer
lea during my last visit there and ask me
| if had ever beheld such enthusiasm. So
! far as giving splendid contributions to the
cause was concerned, this was true; but
| had in honesty to reply that had ad-
| dressed audiences almost. exclusively com
! posed Of Englishmen and Scotchmen in
| which enthusiasm had reached far greater
heights than in those gatherings of my
own kin in the United States.
The second lesson had to learn with re-
gard to the Irsh-American audience is that
they have acquired the taste for dialectics
and exposition which is the main character
ist.c Of the American mind. I once SUR
prised good many people by saying that
contrasting conversation between Englisha
men and Americans, the main defect Of the
conversation Of Englishmen was it's frivol-
Iity, and that of Americans its poRderosity
Americans can be, and often are, very. flip
pant; but they are as desperately in ear
nest in their conversation as in Other
| things, and instead OF conflning themselves
to gossip. or a repetition of the utilities OF
newspapers, as we do in England they
start, frequently without warning, on tie
! discussion Of the deepest problems Of spir-
itual and social life. I never shall forget
! the impression made upon me by flying
conversation. Of which I caught few
words, between two negroes standing at
the corner of a. street in Philadelphia
s3You call that a principle said one to the
other; s'now, call that an instinct"
The Irish have changed, then, to GER
tain extent their methods of thought in
the United States. I had to adapt myself
to the new conditions. What I did then
was to compose a lengthy narrative of the
incidents and those conditions which had
created the Land League movement; to
trace the movement step by step, inside and
outside of Parliament; to deal with obiec-
tions as went along to our program and
to our methods; and thus to reason out the
case as If were addressing not an excited
and partial audience, bilt 4 severely critical
tribunal The speech lasted two hours. On
one occasion I had to, speak for two hours
and half in order to answer all the OBJ
jections which I had heard made by Amer
leans in conversation before my meeting.
In America YOU are ra1ely, il ever, report
ed verbatim; and ! was thus able to 60
from one end of the continent to the other
with the same spesch--the same harangue,
two long hours in duration. did this for
nearly every night for seven long months
in addition to travelling hundreds of miles
most days, over those vast distances which
are so affrighting and fatiguing in America.
/ sometimes say left my boyhood behind
me in America In that heightened tour; I
certainly have never felt so fresh since,
have spoken Of the Illusions which I
had to shed. The mo rent manifesto.
it will be remembered, followed imnedi-
ately upon the arrest and Imprisonment of
Mr.. 4Parnell. Now, one Of the strongest
arguments that had been constantly urged
in favor OF the extreme policy of which
that was the most signal example, was the
splendid effect which such policy would
have upon America. It was thought that
the more extreme the policy at home, the
greater would be the excitement and the
stronger the support in America. I was
soon undeceived. Before addressed a
meeting the same phenomenon began to re-
cur. A deputation, consisting of three
gentlemen-usually one of them priest
requested to see me. After a while / knew
before they uttered a word what they were
going to say. 1t was to ask an explanation
OF the 'no rent" manifesto The whole
tone and tendency Of American thought
were against the manifesto, and especially
against the Misrepresentation of it's effect
which was current in America. am not,
assuredly in such a series of articles as
these, going back on the discussion of a
political move like this; only wish to say
that, whether the manifesto was right or
wrong, just or iniquitous, it was strictly
conditioned in time and circumstance-that
is to say, the withholding Of rent was to
last only so long as the coercion struggle
explained this as we'll as could to these
deputations, and it usually ended in the
deputation promising to come to the meet
ing and hear what had to say. But i
mark the occurrence as some proof of the
observation have often made--that there
is an entire miEapprehension In this country
as to the general tendency Of thought
amongst the Irish in the United States. We
hear constantly of things here which are
scarcely noticed or laughed at there. It Is
true that there Is party Of violence and Of
extremeness in the United States: but the
vast majority of. opinion there. while
strongly Nationalist, is sober, constitution
al, and well balanced. s8
One popularity of the United States i
remarked It was a certain tendency TO
friendly exaggeration. I'll were to believe
the descriptions of myself which I found in
papers, united all the physical graces of
Apollo to the intellectual and oratorical
gifts Of Demosthene5e Every country
has its curious conventions conventions
that. have noassoci iation or connection with
blank and naked reality; and the conyen
4tion in America is that the newspapers
shall speak in terms of exaggerated cOmplI-.
ment- unless, Of course, when a presiden-
tai election IS being fought, and the news
papers are dealing with political opponents.
There is an instance Of this exaggeration.
which, always recall with a certain mix
ture of pleasure and amusement; e was
kept By accident in the town Of Pueblo, il.
the state Of Colorado. 81 A train broke down,
"a the way to Leadville, 50 i had to stop
for few hours in: Pueblo. II was not long
there till my presence was known. The
brass band Was brought out; I was escorted
stfhroug city. ss11 g weak moment I
sll ised tos return give aaspeech son
|fhe wh hich & had before start.
theslone Jour san
couslci