The Minneapolis journal., 1902-10-20
]. FINERlY SPEAKS
First Convention of the United Irish
League Meets in @
~ = - - te-.-a - Sf4.s... ri.ya s.@ & y,
= Boston. ..e> =
The Necessity of the Irish Peoples
Owning Their Own Land
2tr Is Shown. >z~@s

boston, OCT. ZU.-A notaDte gaLn6flng
of leaders Of international reputation made
remarkable the opening Of the first con-
vention' Of the United Irish League in this
city to-day. John e. Redmond, M. p,
Michael Davill and John Dillon, M. p,
ENJOYS from Ireland. Edward Blake, Irish
M. p. United States Senator Smith of
New Jersey; Patrick Egan, former Unit
ed States minister to Chilli, and Patrick
Ford, of the Irish World, were among the
delegates.
The convention was opened at 11:45 by
National President John Finerty
President Finerty in opening said they
had again assembled in the dual capacity
of American citizens and allies OF their
Irish kindred to lift up their voices in
behalf of the right of lreiand's tillers Of
the soil to own the land they cultivate.
Now $4,000 Irish husbandmen are farmer
proprietors and they are SO because of the
labors and sacrifices Of Parnell and
Davitt. O'Brien and Dillon, Biggar and
Redmond. who followed in the track Of the
pioneers for Irish liberty.
To-day there are other Irish patriots,
the brothers and friends of Ireland's dele
gates to the convention, wearing the con-
vict's clothes and performing hard labors
in Irish jails, because they have dared to
tell the English prime minister that his
rule in Ireland is founded on invasion
usurpation. conflscation and the breach Of
treaties, which even savage virtue would
have respected, but which English greed
and jealousy systematically violated.
The Anglo-Norman Feudal system had
been paramount in Ireland until Parnell,
supported by the land league Of which the
United Irish League Is the lineal success
sor, made a breach in its brazen shield.
English rule stands self lf-condemned by
the official reports Of its own servants,
which show that Ireland has to-day a
smaller population than she had in 1901,
and that within the last sixty years
1,250,000 Of her people starved to death;
more than 100000 were evicted from
refuge from British tyranny in this and
other free countries. A government
weather native or foreign, that could and
can find no remedy for this wholesale de-
struction of ancient and highly endowed
people, has no right to exist. 1t has
sinned against the beneflcence Of God and
the inherent rights of mankind.
The best lands Of Ireland are held by
alien and absentee landlords. The worst
are occupied by the tillers Of the soil.
The landlords are offered a settlem ent
tantamount to forty years rental for the
lands they hold, in general, by the law Of
conquest the process of confiscation.
These lands belong by hereditary right
to the Irish people, but the Irish people
do not ask for a new confiscation but for
condemnation and purchase by loan on
terms of easy payment When instead Of
.60,0 900, 100000 heads of Irish tenant fami-
lies become proprietors, tourniquet will
have been applied to the bleeding arteries
Of Ireland.
The meeting to-day said President Fin
erty was to express the sentiments Of the
American Irish on the Irish question: and
to welcome Irelands chief and his fellow
delegates. A year has not yet elapsed
since the United Irish League Of America
was temporarily organized In spite Of
senseless opposition in some quarters and
unmanly apathy in others, it has in
creased and multiplied throughout the
Ann erican continent, and has furnished
the true men in Ireland with a respecta-
BILE amount of sinews of war to carry on
in manly manner the noble struggle for
land and liberty. -.
In conclusion, he welcomed John Red
mond and the other delegates to America.
Following Finerty's address. Acting
Mayor Doyle welcomed the convention tc
the city.
Burke Cochran was chosen Temporary
chairman. Addressing the convention Mr.
Cochran said that an appeal to arms by
the Irish people would be folloy rathe,
than patriotic, but that when the truth
Of the Irish question had become apparent
to the world, an adjustment of the diff
Guilty would be possible.
The committee on credentials reported
5S2 delegates present, including :127 dele.
gates-at-large. representing twenty one
states, the District of Columbia and Can.
ada. -
The convention then organized with
John F. Finerty Of Chicago as permanent
chairman. Committees were appointed
with the following chairmen:
Rules-General OBierne, New York.
By-laws-M. P. Curran. Massachusetts.
Platform and Resolutions-M. J. Ryan, Phila
delphia.
Smith, New Jersey.
Permanent Observation-Disclosures Ford, New
York. ,z,..tt" ~ w X - t.. ~