The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-03-06

The Robt. Emmett anniversary last
night, observed under the ausplcles
of the A. O. H at the A. O. U. w
hall, was highly interesting, AND
greatly enjoyed by all present.
Attorney G. o. Daley presided. and
opened the exercises with an elo-
ouent tribute to Emmett. The
Roemer and Hayes mandolin club fur
nished excellent music, and Ralph
Lunn recited Emmett's last address
in his best style.
Rev. Father Prior gave an interest
ing and finished eulogy on Emmett,
Miss Kelley sang solo very sWeetly,
and Miss Matte DOugherty gave a
comical recitation about an auction
sale of old bachelors, which was much
applauded.
Judge Severance was introduced
and smoke in his usual fluent style and
with chaste rhetoric, although with
out notes. He said that he was sus-
picious that he could not speak on
the subiect.of Robert Emmett in
purely judicial spirit, and could not
but refer to the oppression and tyran-
nyof England. He was born in the
wrong place to be generous to Eng
land. 1t was in the shadow OF Bun
ker Hill, and he had often heard bis
grandmother speak Of hearing the
roar of cannon while her friends
were in the fight, and often he went
to the garrett and looked upon the
uniform0worn by his grandfather at
Bunker Hill and Yorktown, and at
the rifle he carried. How, then, he
said, can / love England? l am will
ling to do her justice but nothing
more.
This world has always been wont to
admire lofty mountain, with its
snow covered peak, or a tall tree
With it's branches waving above the
others: and so it admires any man
who has become eminent in any
moral cause, such as liberty. So it
was with Emmett. He was executed
for high treason at the behestof Eng
land, not because his act was wrong,
but because it did not please Eng
land. If Inan fails in his struggle
for liberty, he is felon: but If he
succeeds, he is a hero. Had the
leaders of the American revolution
failed, they would have been denounc-
ed as traitors, but because of their
success they became marked charac-
tiers of the world. Had Emmett sue
ceeded, his name would have been
heralded as that of hero, and all
lovers of liberty contemplate it as
such.
The injuries perpetrated on Ireland
by England gave been enough to
make every Irishman furious in his
desire to remove that tyranny. One
of the worst crimes that England ever
perpetrated was the destruction of
the fraternity of Christianity. Trou-
BILE between Catholics and ProteS-
tantS would never been heard of but
for England. That clarion blast,
''Peace on earth, good will to men,"
came from the realms of Paradise,
but it never reached the banks of the
Thames. 1t was under such inf1u-
ences and at such time that Robt.
Emmett was born.
Ireland seems to have been the prey
not only Of nations but of those in
official positions. The only English
man who ever set on the throne of the
Pope of Rome gave Ireland to James
III want it understood that you
can no more make a good pope out
of an Englishman, than you can make
good Sunday school superintendent
out of pug dog. OF course l hate En-
gland, and l could give you a thou
sand other reasons why do so. Did
we not go through eight years ofowar
obtain our rights from her? And
again in 1912 did we not have to again
go to war with her to maintain the
doctrines of free trade and sailors
rights? And when the slave holders
of the South rose against this govern
ment and.it give promise of disap-
pearing beneath the gurgling vortex
of the sea. di9 not England hold up
the South? Gladstone said that JEFF
fersOn Davis had made an army and
navy and that the South should be
recognized as belligerent power, but
he did not say that that navy was
created in English ship yards. Is it
then any wonder that [ hate En-
gland? don't want to die until see
the blue coats of America and the
red coats ofEngland on an ensanguined
field. l have noticed that the diff
culties between the UnitedStates and
England of late at once fall into
courses of pacific solution, and for all
this l am exceedingly sorry. | want