The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-03-26

for which he suffered. and neither of
these things have I done; for | went in
to my dungeon an Il.sn .>ationalist and
here | stand tonight an Irish Nationalist
ready still TO suffer in the cause of hu-
man freedom. Great applause.j
You people of America know that
liberty has it's price. and those who are
not willing to pay that price are not fit
to enjoy freedom. The English gov
eminent said | was a criminal. 1t is
false! | am not a criminal. desire to
tell you the story of England's hypo-
crisy and brutal inhumanity; and de-
sire it to be understood that | have not
come to this country to trade on my own
sufferings. Neither have | come as a
partisan to identify myself with either
party or faction in this country. 1t was
never for party that l suffered or went
to prison. 1t was for Ireland, and |
stand today above all party and faction
with the men of ireland, who are today
making sacrifice for that freedom thai
Neither am here to plead guilty or nc:
guilty to the charge that England pre-
1erred against me. and for which she
robbed me of the best years of my life.
England herself has pronounced judg-
ment and am here to impeach her.
went down into my dungeon, not for a
moment daunted for l knew then, as |
know now, that every time the govern
ment Of England sends an Irish patriot
into an English dungeon 1000 of the
youth of our land will spring into his
boots and carry en- the fight fer the
Irish freedom. (Applause.)
The ordinary convict was allowed OK
ercise and could walk fast or slow. IA
pleased him best. The Irish prisoner
was marched into the yard from which
GODS sunlight was shut in summer tim,
and which was freezing cold in winter,
and there he was forced to work so
slow that the blood almost froze in his
body But these men would die bef0r,
they would bring disgrace upon the name
or Irish Nationalist. You know as
we'll as | can tell you how this great
nation goes Dragging all over the world
about its great intelligence, it's great
capacity to govern men, and how il
sends forth its missionaries with a
mighty pile Of gospel truth to spread the
light to the heather We know that
every nation is judged for its humanity
ty the manner in which il deals with its
prisoners. The manner in which prison.
ers are searched is san outrage agains,
civilization and Christianity If any of
the implements of labor should bc los,
whether it be crowl,ar or a jack plane,
each prisoner is taken out and divestcl
OF all his clothing, and stood up before
row of jailors. just fancy the repre-
sentatives of this great nation searching
the naked body of a prisoner for a crow
BAR or jack plane! N.iughter.) The
most terrible ordeal is to stand day after
day within their dungeon walls and SEQ
your comrades going&mnd around you.
When these people We're struggling to
force me to give Information against
Parnell, the word force" was used IT,
was very strange that soon after this
lhere was something else besides force
used, for had received an almost fatal
desc of poison. This poison was admin
lstered by the prison doctor, and | have
put all the circumstances before n largo
number of individual men in this
country and in Ireland and each and
every one of them agree in saying they
never heard of the poison of belladonna
being used in the whole medical prac-
1'cc under the same conditions that it
was used with me-
The speaker closed with a strong an
peal To representatives and descendants
of the Irish race in America not to forget
the land Of their ancestors. There
We're no Cuban swords flashed in the
struggle OF America for freedom" he
said. and there were none when the
nation was later struggling to preserve
itself from internal discord and disrup
tlon. If you can afford to lie cnyjous
with Cuba, then you are traitors in vo,,r
own hearts If you are not loyal and true
to your own land"
calling attention to O'Connell's prcdic-
ton that lreland's time would come
when England was at war with the
world, he said: Remember, there are
war clouds in the East. and tho blast of
lhe trumpet may call the armies of
Europe into conflict before another wear
has begun. and England may he chal
lneged to fight. And if she is who will
40 her fighting? The sons of lrc]ando