The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-03-06
ROBERT EMMET |.
Allan Nc ermott's Eloquent
Address at Birthday Cele-
bration of Ireland's
Patriot.
VICTORY is NOT DECIDED
The Sons of the Emerald Isle
Will Yet Secure Her
Freedom.

celebration of the birthday OF lreianu
Iiustrous young hero martyr. Robert
Emmett, under the auspices of the Can
na-Gael Societies of Hudson County, at
the Bijou Theatre, last evening. me
attendance was very large and the en-
thusiasm was great.
Eloquent tributes to the memory of the
young martyr were paid by State Sena-
tor Allan l.. McDermott, Corporation At
torney James F. Minturn and F. 1.
Moran. of Washington, National Treas
urer of the Ancient Order of Hibernians-
Emmet's immortal speech from the dock
was repeated by Mr.. E. J. Sullivan, of the
Irish National Club, of New York
addresses were interspersed with
solos and quartettes by singers OF st.
Patrick's Church Choir. Mr.. w. F. San
born sans .She Is Far from the Land
Where Her Young Hero Sleeps and
Miss Margaret Reilly sang Come Back
to Erin The quartette sang "The Last
Rose of Summer THE Meeting OF the
Waters,r and kathleen Mavourneen.
Many of the Irish Volunteers were on
the stage and in the audience. In the
boxes or on the stage sat Robert Davis
John P. Feeney, Michael J. o'Donnell'
Street and Water Commissioners Heintze
and Nolan. James Murrer, NJ. ]. Holmes,
Joseph D. McKiernan. Denis Mullins, u
!. Hawkes.. James Sullivan. Recorder
Simon, of Weehawken; ex-Street ana
Water Commissioner Harding, Assembly
man Kelaher, Philip McGovern, THOMAS
Riley. William M. Barry, P. Baxter,
Michael Kellaher. Joseph Morris, Jonn
Purtell, Thomas F. Carey, Thomas Nc
Donough, Joseph B.. Kline, James Brown,
John Larkins, Frank Hague, ex-President
Charles Somers of the Street and Water
Board, Frank Curley. A. ]. Clements,
Thomas Fallon and others.
Patrick J. O.Mara introduced James +.
Minturn as chairman of the meeting.
In DOING so Mr.. O'Mara made a few brief
remarks. closing with the assertion that
Irishmen yet hoped to see the Irish Re
public colors flying over an Irish parlla-
ment.
Mr.. Minturn recalled the occasion when
he attended the reception accorded John
Daily in this city. He was Interrupted oy
the appearance of nearly one hundred
Irish Volunteers in full uniform. The
Volunteers remained standing until given
the command, B seated!'
Mr.. Minturn brought down the house
with the remark, 81 hope we will see the
day when the soldiers of Ireland Will say
to the soldiers of England, BE seated!
Continuing his remarks about John
Daily, Mr.. Minturn said that after many
years England found that John DAILY was
an innocent man and released him from
prison, and he that was once branded
as a felon was today the Chief Magls-
trate of a large community.
What a travesty upon English JUS
ticei What a commentary on English
law!, exclaimed the speaker. Mr.. Min
turn recited a list of Irish heroes who
had served other countries and said that
over half the volunteers of the recent
Standardization War were rishmen or
of Irish descent. He wildly recalled the
principal incidents in Emmet's career, his
strenuous efforts to bring independence
to his native land.
IAN Irishman is always a patriot" de-
clared Mr.. Minturn. H must be a
lover of liberty. Irishmen have been en-
gagged in an undying struggle for liberty
for seven hundred years. Whether an
freshman comes to this land or goes to
Cuba or the Philippines, he is everywhere
a liberty-loving man."
Allan L. McDermott received an ova-
ton when he was introduced. His was
the Grafton of the evening. He was in
his best form. E~loquently he recited the
career of Robert Emmett. His speech was
complete, full and studded with cpl
gramatic flights of eloquence that held his
audience spell bound. AT times there was
raptunous applause. Senator McDermott
said:-S
sFor centuries England presented to ner
critics the plea hat oppression IN Ireian9
was necessary to uphold the rights OF
ProteStants. There was no plea more
frequently urged in the Houses OF ParLa-
ment than that that official outrage was
perpetrated in the name of the est wss
not a day that the supporters of the
crown did not warn the people of England
that If Ireland were given self government
# would result in the murder of all Pro-
testants within her border.
The plea of religious necessity has ever
been a favorite one with the tyrant and
sdventurer. For centuries England guard
ed the chains of Ireland's s~ubjugation by
appeals to bigotry. Whenever she has
taken the Bible in one hand and a rifle
in the other. In the name of religion the
Kings and Queens of England have bathed
Personally, I have never been able to
understand why men could be made to
kill and torture their fellow-men because
of religious differences. I can comprehend
why a man would welcome the stake or
the scaffold rather than surrender what
he believed to be his hope of eternal life.
] can understand the martyr. / cannot
appreciate the murderer No form of re-
ligion, no belief in the heretofore or the
hereafter can justify the murder or
oppression of those who do not agree with
that belief. 1t is the duty of religion to
argue. not to annihilate, (Cheers.)
"In every forum controlled by England
it was proclaimed that the freedom OF
ireland was desired only by the Catholics
of that country. For centuries this was
believed. and the belief presented to
united England a divided Ireland. This
could not continue forever.
..Falsehood may dim the torch of lib
erty, it cannot e~xtinguish the fame. By
its light there was written the Declara-
ton of Independence of the United Colo
mes of America. Fifteen years later the
first club of United Irishmen' was form
ed at Belfast. The object of the United
Irishmen was to obtain an absolute sep
aration of Ireland from England, and
their address to the world contained this
paragraph
" The greatest happiness to the great
est number. On the rock of this prin-
chile let the society rest. By this let it
Judge and determine every political ques-
fion and whatever is necessary for this
purpose let 1t not be accounted haz-
ardous, but rather our interest, our duty,
our glory and our common religion. The
rights of men are the rights of God, and
to yindicate one Is to maintain the other.
REME0Y FnR TMF grippe