The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-24

that he sacrificed his life for the cause
of Ireland. Parnell, when these men
were hanged, was a young lad, learn
ing from his American mother hatred
of the British flag. He was full of the
traditions of SO. He was born in the
midst of the sosres of SO, and was
close student of Irish history. He
vowed to give his life in the effort to
pull down that tyranny that condemned
these brave young Irishmen to the scat
foli. One Of his first public acts, Mr..
Redmond said, was to take part in a
movement for amnesty for the Fenian
prisoners tn n confined in British dun
geons
Mr.. Redmond told Of being present
at meeting in London when he him
SELF like Parnell, at that time, was but
boy He attended, in company with
his father, William Archer Redmond,
member of parliament. Sergt. McCar
thy and Michael Davitt, recently re-
leased Fenian prisoners from Portland
prison, were there, too. Parnell invited
these men over to ireland and later
on their arrival in Dublin, he received
them. Poor Serg,. Mccarthy died in
Parnells arms in Parnells room, one
hour after landing in the capital of Ire
land.
These incidents, said Mr. Redmond,
make an indellible impression on Par
nelrs life. Over and over again 1 have
heard him say that it was the I'M
selfish devotion of these men that in
duced him to go into the movement for
the regeneration of Ireland. There is
indeed a close and intimate connection
between the two objects of this meet
ing tonight. Honor to Allen, Larkin
and O'Brien, and honor to Parnell. I
desire very briefly to put before you
the reasons why we can fairly ask the
citizens of America to honor the mem
DRY of Parnell. We put Parnell for
ward not as an Irishman, but as a great
man. one of the worlds heroes of this
century. 1t was his aim to better the
condition of humanity in every cline.
The work for Parnell for Ireland was
twofold First, he enormously inn
proved the material condition, of the
people of Ireland, but better still, he
lifted the national cause of Ireland for
legislative independence to a position
where it commanded the respect of
the whole world and where it became
a menace to the British empire
In 1879 five-sixths of the Irish people
were in a position of servitude and of
poverty not to be found in any other
nation in the world. Broadly speaking,
the whole people live by agriculture and
the tenant farmers at that time were
the world. 1t seems now like the pass
ing of a horrible dream. At that time
each farmer only held the little bit of
land he lived upon, and the landlord
could turn him out or raise-th rent at
will The land was becoming worse and
worse cultivated year by year. Enemies
of the Irish race will say that this was
because we are lazy and thriftless. No,
the reason was that a tenant who put
Inh MT 10 mn nj OF tic
holding had the rent raised with threat
of eviction. Thus it was that the land
became worse and worse cultivated.
Eviction in those days meant for the
tenant farmer, absolutely destruction if
he had not the means of taking refuge
on the emigrants' ship. 1t is difficult to
realize this, looking backward for 20
years. Parnell came into the house Of
commons alone, a young man without
gift of speech. He had only six men
with him at the start out of the 1902
members from Ireland. With this ri
iiculously small band he brought the
house of commons to a position where.
if they would not listen to measures
of relief for Ireland. no English re-
forms could be passed. This was the
famous so-called policy of instruction.
with 40 men behind him, but he could
rely on only 26 of them. He succeed
ed, however, in driving a tory govern
ment from office and later, a liberal
one.
Mr.. Redmond then, went on to tell
of the institution of the land courts
which have done much to ameliorate
the condition of the tenant farmer and
establish equitable standards of rent,
BY these courts, rents were reduced
from 500, 000, 900 to $25, 00O,000 a year. 1t
rooted the tenant to the soil Had
Parnell done nothing else, this achieve
ment would entitle him to the last hon
or of the Irish race. Under the oper-
atoms of these laws that ParnelI forced
through parliament, Irish tenant farm
ers are gradually acquiring their hold
ings and in another generation land
lord n v.ll have passed away forev-
er. Tac farmer Is able to borrow from