The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-11-20
md painful trance, and the splendor Of


this Republican festival dazzles me. And,
perhaps, if had obeyed the dictates
Of that humility which becomes de-
feated man and hunted fugitive--if I
had taken counsel of my own quiet dis
position, naturally averse from display
and ostentation, 1 should have asked
permission respectfully to decline the
honor You do me this day. God knows
1t is In no triumph, we Irish rebels set
foot upon your shores, Americans! With
the load of our chains only just shaken
OF, and the load of our inglorious de-
feat, which is bitterer than chains, and
cannot be shaken off, still heavy in our
souls-with some of our dear comrades
still pining in bondage-with the blood
hounds of the enemy still questing on
our track behind, and a wide world
country-it might be thought happiness
enough for us to fling ourselves, ex-
hausted at last, safe under the hospit-
able shadow Of your eagles wings. But
to this board leave me no room for such
feelings. l must not think of myself
when you offer me sympathy with my
cause. And Americans, have heard, are
observant of what passes in the world.
You know we'll what the cause is, AMI
what that sympathy implies. Here is
much more than personal mpllnent;
here is something that supersedes, and
would make ridiculous the affectation
Of personal diffidence. 1, indeed, am
nothing; but liberty is sacred and Ire
land is dear, and justice is eternal;
and my cause was, and is, and while 1
live shall be, the cause of Irish freedom
against English tyranny-Irsh rights
against English bayonets-it is the cause
OF independent industry for our own liv-
Ing, against base pauperism for Eng
lands gain-it Is that same old and dear
cause of Irish Republlcanism to which
our fathers were sworn in '9S, and for
which Tone labored and lived, and for
which Emmett could but die. Knowing
all this, you tender, not to me, but to
my country, on this first point of Amerl-
can land touch, your frank and manly
endorsement of that righteous cause
And could 1 presume to decline thsi?
Could l. with an impudent modesty, de-
precate your sympathy with Ireland's
wrongs. your honest Indignation against
NJ
no; l eXut in this hearty welcome. l
thank you for it from my very soul.
take grim delight in it.; for we'll
know the warm words Of cheer you give
me tonight will reach the poor hearts
OF some of my broken and Responding
countrymen, and kindle in their hearts
again some sparks of the fire of man.
hoOd-the loud echo of freemens scorn
Will ring in the ears Of our tyrants in
their high places, and bid them beware
OF the next earthquake Of the nations
Who Will dare talk to me of despairo
Who Is abject enough to despair of the
cause of right. and TRUTH and freedom?
In Ireland, indeed, truth has long been
called lie by act of parliament, and
that ancient passion for liberty has been
we'll nigh, as the enemy hopes, crushed
and trampled out OF her; but, after all,
lrishmen are not negroes-they still be-
long to that family of the human race
whence sprung the heroes and the demI-
gods. High hearts and strong hands arc
bred there still, and the cup of slavery
Is still bitter dranght, as of old and
the sting of universal contempt Is mad
dening. and time and chance wait on
all men and steel still cuts, and fire
still burns-and heaven Is above us all.
The graves, indeed, of two millions Of
our famished, murdered nation will NOT
give up their dead though the graves
are shallow and the dead cofTinless. The
seven hundred years of Ireland's sore
agony In the talons Of British civiliza-
ton have been endurcd-they cannot be
erased from the calendar--they cannot
be forgotten-they shall not be forgiven,
Nations have no future state, and, thnrc-
fore, national punishment and compnn-
sation came into this world; and as
surely as SORROW trackcth crime" that
foul British empire will be brought to Il
strict accounting-lreand will vet have
her victory and her revenge. High
words these, some men will say. The
unhappy being furgets, they will say,
that he has been five years broudinr in
solitary cells, or buried in the forests of
the Antipodes; he forgcts human pro-
gress, and electric telegraphs. and how
Tar the species have been striling ahead
while he has been gnawlng his own
heart in a jail; he forgets that the Irish
he once knew are mostly dead or fled,
and sle remnant contentcd, or cowed. or
bought, and bought cheap enough; and
so, they will say, he begins to rave
about the cruel Saxon, and the rights
of Irish nationhood, that empty sound.
the very echoes of which have died ont
In the wailings of famine, or been waited
over the Atlantic, or drowned in the
paeans Of peace and Joy that hailed Il
queens visit and crystal palace. |
know what the slaves and towards will
say. l know their cruel cant. And
say to them again, that had considered