The Irish standard., 1897-07-24

bill for their emancipation. In Bic
were destruction of arts and OF industry.
They were fitted to cX1irpatc even the
Christian religion from among the peo-
pie and reduce them To the condition
or savagcS and rebels disgrarcful to
humanity. and Formidable to the state.
"In 1852. h" continued. you became
free Your Catholic brethren shared
the danger Of the conflict, but you had
not the justice or the gratitude 20 let
them share the fruits of the victory.
You suffered them to relapse into their
former insis;nlcance and depression.
Is the pope an enemy to freedom? Look
to France and be answered. Is Profess
tantism necessarily its friend? You
are Proteslants: look to yourself and be
refuted. But look further; do you find
even the religious sentiments of spclar-
les marked by the supposed character
istics of their sects? DO you not find
That a Protestant Briton can be Il bigot,
with only two sacramentS. and a Gath
Ollie Frenchman a -Deist. admitting se.
en- But you affect to think your prop
erty in danger by admitting them into
the state. That has already been re-
futed: but you yourselves refnled your
own objection. Thirteen years ago you
expressed the same fear yet you made
the experiment: you opened the doors
to landed property. and the fact has
shown the fear to be without founda-
tiOn. The Protestant Assem-
dancy is in danger. What do you mean
by that word? DO you mean the rights,
and properties and dignitics of the
church: If you do you must feel they
are safe. They are secured by the
law, by the coronation cath, by Il Pro-
testant parliament. Protestant king. a
Protestant confederated nation. II
But if you mean by ascendanry the pow
er of persecution. detcst and abhor it.
If you mean the ascendancy OF an Eng
lsh school over an Irish university. |
cannot look upon ii without aversion.
call upon this house to con-
slider the necessity of acting with a
social and a concilatory mind. Con.
trary conduct may perhaps protrart the
unhappy depression of our country, but
a partial liberty cannot long suhsss
a disnnit6d people cannot long subsig.
With infinite regret must any man loni
forward to the alienation of three mil
lions of our people. and to a degree cf
subserviency and corruption in a fourth.
/ am sorry to think it is so very easy
to conceive. that in case of such al
event the inevitable consequence would
be an union with Great Britain. And
If any one desires to know what that
would be. / will tell him. 1t would he
the emigration of every man Of consc-
quenCe from Ireland; it would be the
extinction OF the Irish name as a pco-
pie" 1t was at the bar that Currin
made his reputation as a brilliant ora
tor, and his greatest flights of genius
were in defense of the United Irish
men. In his work he displayed the full
force of his eloqucnce and genius. COW
ering the informers with intamy, and
ulOVlllS tlle leuIlS VI ill W utCldIc Will
him that the evidence was so base
that no mans life should be taken upon
it." His defense of Hamilton Rowan
for seditious libel in 1898 has been
declared by Lord Brougham to be the
greatest speech of an advocate in an
cient and modern times" During this
trial he gave utterance to that well-re-
membered apostrophe to the spirit of
liberty. under which, on British soil
/: the slave Stands redeemed, regeneratcL
and is disenthraled by the irresistible
genius of universal emancipation" His
last efforts in the trials of '9S were for
the brothers John and Henry Sheares
and Wolfe Tone. On Pitts death, in
1906, Curran was appointed master Of
the rolls. position which he held for
years, resigning in 1914. After his res
ignation of this office he resided much
at his mansion in Brompton where lie
enjoyed the society of Richard Brinsley
Sheridan and Thomas Moore. In the
summer OF 1917 he was attacked by