The Irish standard., 1899-12-16
A Grand Tribute to the Memory
of the Irish Patriot.
HIGH PRAISE OF HIS JAIL JOURNAL
Arrest, Trial and Banishment of
the Young Irelander.

Once, and once only, l saw John
Mitchell, says Justin Mccarthy in his
Personal Rccollcc,ions." was small
boy in New York; the occasion was
some crowded meeting in, if l remem-
Der rightly, the Cooper Institute; the
interest for INC, l know, ccntcred in the
stopped, gray-haircd man who sat upon
the platform, and whom l knew to be
John Mitchell. 1t is something to have
looked even once upon the lincaments
OF great man, something to reflect that
once for moment two lives touched,
face OF the hero, the exile. the man of
genius who had loved ireland SO we'll
and whom ireland will love and honor
forever. OF all the men of that wild
movement OF lS4S Mitchell saw his way
most clearly; he was the peer OF them
all in energy, in determination and in
patriotism; he was superior to all OF
them, save only Mcagher, in his mas
tcrly command OF language, in the pas
sion and cloqucncc and beauty which
his genius could kindlc from the niccl,-
anism OF human speech. Ireland had
never produced a man who possessed a
greater mastery OF prose, who could
better manipulate the harmonics OF we'll
ordered words, and wing home his
thoughts and teachings to the hearts OF
his readers with more magnificent or
more convincing style. The cloqucncc
Il Mcaghcr was the cloqucncc OF the
platform; his speeches were made to be
delivered, and those who read them
seem to hear rcsounding in their ears
is they read the cloqucncc OF the orator
Mitcicl's cloquencc is the cloqucncc OF
the consummate man Of letters, and yet
we are told on the authority OF Sir
Charles Gavan Duffy that "In the be-
ginning he wrote clumsily and even
iccbly." These, seem to generation
stepped in the Jai' Journal amazing ad-
jcctivcs TO employ towards Mitchell. We
may assume that they were in some
mca sure deserved, for although Sir
Charles Gavan Duffy has no great affcc-
ton for Mitchell, he cndcavors to be all
impartial historian. Eut il they could
ever have been applied and dcscrvcdly
to one OF the most remarkable writers
.ol his age, what encouragement they
offer to honest cndcavor struggling
against disappointment No man need
despair at being criticized as clumsy or
feeble in his prose style il he rcmcm-
bcrs that Mitchell at thirty was accused
of the same detects.
There are few passages in literature
that are, in their way, more beautiful
than "Mitchcl's Journal" "All my life
long," says Mitchell, Il have delighted
in rivers, rivulcts, rills, fierce torrents
tearing their rocky beds, gliding, dim
pied brooks kissing a daisicd marge.
The tinklc or murmur or deep resound-
ing roll or raving roar OF running wa
ter is, OF all sounds my ears even hear
now, the most homcly. Nothing else
in this land'-hc is speaking OF the
land OF his cxilc-"looks or sounds like
home. The birds have 4 foreign tongue,
the very trees whispering to the wind
whisper in accents unknown to me.
They can never, never, never,
let breeze, pipe or zephyr breathe as it
will, never can they whisper, quiver,
sigh or sing as do the bccchcs and syca-
mores Of old Rostrcvor." A little far
thcr on he reflects with wonderful fancy
upon this ancient river of the new world,
his Tasmanian Shannon which recalls in
its name the dcarcr river OF his home
''In its crystalline gush my heart and
brain are bathed, and hear in its plain
tive chime, all the blended voices of his
tory, OF prophecy, and pocsy from the
beginning Not cooler or fresher was
the Tllracian Hebrus; not purer was
Aban and Plarpar; not more ancient
and venerable is Father Nilus. Before
the quiet flow OF the Egyptian river was
yet disturbed by the jabber OF the priests
OF Meroc; before the dynasty was yet
bred that quaffed the sacred wave OF
Choaspes-tl1e drink OF none but kings;
ere its lordly namesake river in Erin OF
Streams reflected yet upon its bosom
pillar tower, or heard the chimes from
its Seven Churches, this river was rush
ing through the lovely glen to the
Southern Sea-was singing its mystic