El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-18
DANIEL
O'CONNELL
THE SUBJECT OF AN ADDRESS BY
THE REVEREND FATHER
BARRY

Saint Patrick's Day Suitably Celebrat-
ed by the Catholics of this City, and
the Church Was Packed to the Street.
Special services were neld yesterday
at the Catholic church of the Immacu-
late Conception in commemoration of
Ireland's patron saint, ST. Patrick In
the morning high mass was held at
10: 80 O'Clock, the services being parti-
cularly full and elaborate Every
where tine wearing of the green" was
conspicuous. The men wore it in their
cravats and the lapels of their coats
in the for moi ShamrockS, while the
women had frightened up their dress
es or their hair here and there with
all shades and hues of the gay colored
ribbon.
At 7:S0 in the evening Father Barry
delivered a lecture on Daniel O'Connell.
The church was packed to the doors
All the aisles were filled with chairs
long before the services began and
many found it impossible to find even
standing accommodations later on
The Hibernian society was present in
full strength. They wore the regalia
of their order and occupied seats at
the front of the church. To the left of
the church just inside the altar rail
stood handsome green flag with the
harp and the shamrock emblazoned
upon its silken folds. To the right
dropped the folds of the stars and
stripes. The altar was brilliant with
the lights of many tapers and festooned
with the green of many garlands.
Father Barry is an orator of unusual
ability and his lecture last night was
SSinnad hot
kept his hearers intense interest for
nearly two hours.
He commenced by stating that the
purpose of the occasion, the hOnoring
of the Celtic natal day by the Celtic
race. The history of that race in Ire
land was long one and unfortunately
a very sad one; in fact it was better
learned by looking upon the tombs of
the martyred dead. History was the
essence of universal biography He
had therefore cast around him to find
some Irishman to the manor born and
in whose life the essence of the history
of Ireland could be summed up, and
he could gnd no truer man or more
uobler follower of ST. Patrick than
Daniel O'Connell.
He was the greatest statesman, the
most brilliant orator and the most dis
tinguished patriot that Ireland has
given to history. After century his
memory lives on and is as immortal
as the shamrock of his native land.
He had liberated his countryrnen from
slavery and given them the right to
follow the dictates of their consciences
He had educated them. up ia .5be high
est standard of principle and mad fasfgss,
the way for the subsequent efforts of
a Parnell and Gladstone There were
and always had been two classes OF.
lrishmen differing in their conception
of the best methods of pursue for the
of their country's state.
One was in favor of obtaining it at the
point Of the bayonet. the gun. or the |
pike. and the other appealed to eternal |
justice and right. Of the latter class
was Daniel O'Connell.
Father Barry then went on TO re-
view at great length the history of Ire
land from the time when the English
set their feet upon it's shores up to the |
time when OConnell appeared With
fervid eloquence and intense feeling
he depicted the oppression of the Eng
liSh government, the enactment of |
penal laws that left the Irishman but
the bare right to exist. the denial of 3.
the right to worship God according to |
their faith and the wholesale slaughter
of lives in battle and in prison It
and oppression which he drew but
throughout it was frightened by the
touch of the irrepresible Irish wit and
CLINT of rich humor
1t was at the time when Ireland was
PROSTATE that OConnell appeared. The
of the great French revo-
luton were still agitating society: the
guns of the great Bonaparte still rever-
berated in the air. and amidst the
shock of battle was heard the fall of
empires and the crash of thrones
While these changes were taking place
O'Connell also had visions of reform
alton: not through the force of arms
but through the mighty achievements
of the human intellect. \ crisis had
come and he was there to take advan-
tage of it, He made his first public
speech in 1900. He who would be free
must himself strike the blow was his
motto. and organization was the meth
cd of his. work.
Father Barry then proceeded to
trace the movements of the Irish lib
orator: his wonderful power in organ
iZing the people of Ireland into one in
whole: his election to parlia-
ment: his refusal to take the oath of
Office which denied him his faith: his
return to Ireland and subsequent re-
election to parliament: the recognition
of his power backed by the people of
Ireland. and the final granting of the
act that emancipated the Irish from
the thrall of English religious bigotry
and gave them the right to worship
God according to their own faith.
During the services appropriate
music was rendered Killarney" was