The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-01-26
Bold Challenge Issued Mr. Gerald Bafours Successor
By the Intrepid William O'Brien.
United Ireland Ready,to Nee Mr. Wyndha the Degenerate
Descendant Of the Geraldnes.
The National Organization Welcomes His Hostility ana
Dares Him to Carry Out His Policy.

thousand circumstances III his favor
which are not on your side now. Cruel
fate broke the hopes of the Irish ma
tion eleven years ago, just when vic
tory had been all but achieved. Mr..
Arthur Balfour's policy had only
strengthened the Irish cause when the
crash came. Yet then there were no
elected local bodies all over Ireland, in
every town and parish. to act as ccn-
tcrs of national feeling and effort, il
needs be- Nor were the UnioniSt farm
crs of the North of Ireland working
for the reform which would have been
demanded at FoXford in the open day,
and which was demanded, despite the
vigilance and all the brutality of your
three hundred men in buckram and
their leaders. Though we have lost
nearly half million people since the
days of Arthur Bafour, we have
gained so much that our position is far
more impregnablc than in the early
months of 1890, when he was beaten
to his knees.
Your task is hopeless. Ireland scorns
and detics you. Ircland's National Or
gnnization welcomes your hostility, for
1t is convincing proof that the class
you represent fear the people whom
they have plundered, and whom they
hate. The priests and people OF Mayo
and their representatives laughed you,
and your renegade hirelings, and your
i new century proclamation, to scorn.
The new year was not an hour old
when your colleague on the Congcsted
Districts Board-your own host when
you paid that futile visit to the West
which was but the herald Of coercion
proudly detied your proclamation, and
congratulated his people on the fact
that within the borders of their parish
the first blow for Ireland of the CEN
tury had been struck. in open con-
tempt of all the fulminatons of Dub
lin Castle.
Father Denis O'lIara is one of the
best-belOvcd priests in Ireland. Will
not his action at Kiltmagl on that
New Years morning convey II lesson
to your mind? Will you remain ell
trencled in the stronghold of your own
ignorance ana vanity to the end, and
place yourself at the mercy of the
worthless crew Of Dublin Castle who
ruined many better men than you can
ever aspire to be?
Sir, the thought of Lord Edward
Fitzgerald would induce us to warn
you against pursuing this policy. for
your own sake. But we refrain from
doing so-for Irclnnd's sake.
You have opened the fight with the
twentieth century. We are prepared
to play our mrt-we are ready for the
fray. Free speech is our weapon, and
we shall cling to our right to it though
the walls of every building in Ireland
were covered with proclamations, and
though every modern "Yco'' in your
service were commissioned to repeat
the tragedy at Mitchclstown.
We tell you, sir, as plainly as the
English language allows us, that your
proclamatiOns will be scorned your
DEGREES dcflcd, your threats disregard
ed-and you, yourself, made to feel the
power Of an united nation whose repre-
scntatives in the heart of the empire
ring with the story Of the misdccds of
| criminal f1n In, 1x,I,o In,
you declared war on the National or
ganization at the dawn Of the new
century.
If there was apathy in some parts of
Ireland, you have most successfully
banisllcd it. If men still hcsitated be-
fore throwing themselves into the Ma
tlonal movement, your challenge, sir,
will dispcl all doubts and fears, and
aside to take their places in the ranks
for very shame.
And we are grateful to you for hav
ing chosen Mayo as the scene of your
debut as a cocrcionist. 1t is the coun-
ty of the Land League. 1t is the
birthplace Of the United Irish League:
and it was meet that the brave and
faithful priests and people Of the West
should have the privilege of beginning
this new century by proving that the
organization which had it's birth
amongst them is capable of defending
the rights of the Nationalists of Ire
land against all the pinchbeck imitat-
ors of Cromwell ever transported from
London drawing rooms to the Home OF
Infamy on Cork Hill. Our congratula
tions to Father Denis O'Hara, the true
and gallant pastor of historic Kilti-
'magh! .....