The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1902-03-29

given to the hereditary enemy of the
republic.
CHAMBERLAIN AND DILLON.
1t is very seldom that we dissent
from the views of the Minneapolis
Journal on the perennial Anglo Irish
question. Our esteemed contempor-
airy has always advocated the cause
Of Ireland in a broad American spirit;
but now and then it inadvertently says
something that merits our disapproval.
Its editorial utterance OH the expulsion
of John Dillon from parliament for
calling Chamberlain "a id liar" and
refusing to apologize for his emphatic
language is entirely too strong.
1t is not true that the language used
by Mr.. Dillon, who is a man Of gentle
disposition, courteous manners and
high Christian character, savors of
"bar-rooms and brothels." The word
damned" was legitimately used by
him on the occasion. 1t was used ad-
jectively by way of intensity and
means Hateful; detestable; abomina-
ble." The word has been used by the
classic writers Of English, including
Shakespeare and Goldsmith, and is
still heard on the stage by the most re-
fined and best educated people. There
is nothing obscene about it, and it is
nothing short of prudery to
intimate that there is. The
word was appropriately used in
reference to Chamberlain when
characterizing him as a liar. Neither
was the word used by way of maledic-
ton, though thousands of his own
countrymen have damned the Judas of
British politics during the past three
years because of his infamous policy
in South Africa.
The Journal inaccurately states that
the Irish contingent in the British
commons represents an organization
which boasts Of it's success in defying
the laws of the realm, because they
were made chiefly by Englishmen."
The organization referred to is con-
Quoted on legal and constitutional
lines. The leaders of the United Irish
League are being prosecuted by Dub
lin Castle in the most despotic and ar
bitrary manner without any warrant
of British law. For speaking to their
constituents, members of parliament
have been found guilty by government
judges, without trial by jury, and sent
to prison as criminals, not for any,
thing they say but for attending ''un-
lawful assemblies" which have not
been prohibited.
Lord Chief Justice Palles, of the
Kings bench in Ireland, the ablest
jurist in the country, says that the
conviction of these men is without a
shred of legal authority, and that they
have right of action against the Cas-
tie magistrates who have committed
them to the penitentiary. They are
sent to prison as ordinary criminals in
order to degrade them. The habeas
corpus act is suspended and those in
nocent men are tried under a coercion
act; still the Journal thinks it wrong
for the Irish contingent at Westmins-
ter to ''defy the laws of the realm, be-
cause they were made chiefly by Eng
lishmen."
The American colonists were guilty
Of the same offense. The Irish men,
bers are defying the absence of laws,
rather than the laws themselves. If
such coercion acts were put into oper-
alton in England and Scotland the
British would defy them as the Irish
are doing. Sir John Davies said, sew
eral hundred years ago, that there is
no nation under heaven that respects
the laws more than Ireland if they are
justly administered. That they have
not been administered justly or right
eously has been admitted by the Eng
fish themselves. No Irishman ever de-
nounced in stronger language the afro
cious act which deprived Ireland of
its own parliament than the late Mr..
Gladstone. Even Chamberlain, before
he became a renegade from Liberal
ism, pointed out the injustice of the
British parliament to the Irish nation.
Any intelligent American who studies
the Anglo-Irish question dispassionate-
ly and philosophically cannot but con-
denim English law in Ireland at the
opening of the twentieth century.
The words of John Dillon are unpar-
liamentary, but they were justifiable
when applied to Chamberlain. The
Birmingham lingo who is chiefly re-
sponsible for the South African war
and for the suspension of all rights I'M
der the British constitution in Ireland,
has not any regard for truth or hon.
esty and no man knows it better than
John Dillon. The tilt in parliament
which resulted in Mr.. Dillon's suspen-
sion is described as follows:
"Mr. Chamberlain referred to the
Beers who are fighting on the British
side, when Mr.. Dillon interjected,
s"They are traitors" on which Mr.
Chamberlain retorted:
I" sVNho honOro h1o oontlonon is a <roof3