The Irish standard., 1900-02-24

whose portrait we present to our read
ers to-day. 1t will be treasured by one
and all as the portrait Of the greatest
living member Of the Irish race.
VERY REV. CANON MANNIoN
Makes a Spirited Address to the People
of Elphin.
At recent meeting OF the United
Irish League at Elphin, the chairman
was Very Rev. Canon Mannion, P. P,
who said: I thank you from my heart
for having asked me to preside over
this magnificent and representative
gathering Of the manhood Of Roscom-
mon. We are here to-dAy uRder the
auspices of the United Irish League,
to give free expression to its principles,
and to cast them into the soil Of the
district; and, considering the aims and
objects of the organization, it appears
to me that our place Of meeting is ap-
propriate and we'll chosen. For, here,
we arc to-day standing on the dividing
line between the Magheras Of Con-
naught on the south, and the plains OF
Boyle right behind lis on the north
one OF the richest tracts of country
on the face OF the globe; but as far as
man is concerned, a bowling wilder
ness. The objects of the United Irish
League, as far as I understand them,
are to unite Irishmcn in the bonds Of
fraternity; to draw veil-and for ever
over the divisions and discussions OF
the past; to erect platform broad
enough to receive every Irisllman who
deserves the name; to get back, with
out injustice or injury to anyone, the
and for the people OF ireland, the land
from which their forcfatllcrs were driven
out after they had rendered it produce
tive by the toll of their arms and the
sweat OF their brows; and thus to stem
the awful tide OF emigration, through
which, as through mighty canal, the
iie-blood of the nation is flowing; and
to win back Our native Parliament, OF
which we were deprived by treachery
raudand corruption one hundred years
ago (Cheers) These are legitimate
objects, and every Irishman with a
spark of patriotism in his soul must
Iec;jar,to thar coooj,, ,+t,;,,,,o,+I o,,d
chcers). The history of the past teach
cs us lesson which we should never
forget, and is, that it is only united
Ireland that can wiring any measure Of
justice from an English Government
When you are divided you are power
less, you are despised, insulted, tranl-
pied upon by your rulers When you are
united and determined, no Govern
ment-no matter how powerful-can
afford to treat your just demands with
indifference. What was it that wrung
from hostile Government Grattan's
short-lived Parliament? Was it not
the Volunteers, with a united people
behind them? What was it that wrung
from an unwilling King and Govern
ment Catholic emancipation, such as it
is? Was it not united people, and
the fear of civil war? What was it
that gained you the Land Acts of the
last thirty years? Was it not union
and organization amongst the people?
The man in the street can draw the
moral. If you desire to redress your
country's wrongs, you must drive out
from your midst the demon of disunion
and discussion You must unite and
remain united; you must organize, you
must agitate, and put forward your de-
mands with no faltcring voice (cheers).
There is a terrific money drain from
this, the poorest nation on the face OF
the earth, in the shape OF ovcr-tax-
alton and absentee landlord rent The
rich plains and fertile valleys of ireland
are given up to the sts;and man. after
he had rendered those lands produc-
tive, is driven out and relegatcd to the
barren mountain side, the bog, or the
rnorass. The youth OF the country are
flying away from its shores as if Ire
land were a pest-housc, carrying away
in their stalwart hands that capital of
labor SO much needed at home, and
carrying away also deep down in their
souls an undying hatred of the laws
that have driven them into their forced
exile. In sixty years Ireland has lost
half of her population. Her popula-
ton is still diminishing at the rate OF
$4,000 year. Her language and her
literature are being destroyed, her la
borers are living in novels without an
acre of her soil to grow them food, her
manufactures are destroyed, the major
ity of the people are denied highe,