The Irish standard., 1902-04-05

| uul! OIL lllc DIVINE Law, ana it is not
the eloquent journalistic or platform
preacher of rifles and pom-poms,
Nrupps and Long Toms. who intends
to buy. or who proposes to use. them
in the service of Irish liberty. This.
however, only refers to profession of
Efaith. We all know. or ought to, that
faith. without good works. won't help
Il sinner very far on the high road to
Heaven. And so it is in the matter
'of pious opinion in favor of the en-
| plOymcnt of arms. 1t will never dis
place IL single stone in THE anti-Irish
Iedificc of Dublin Castle. If we believe
| in the methods and the principles of
the Beers. we must do as they did
| namely get the arms: and the way
how not to get arms. and how not to
| convert men to the patriotic wisdom
of their Use in the work of winning
lrcland's liberty, is to fiercely condemn
all Irislmen who will not subscribe to
such methods as traitors 'humbugs,'
| useless. and all the rest. in the strug-
Gle against 1rcland's enemy. For my
part l would have every man in Ire
land armed with a rifle tomorrow if I
could. The only governments among
civilized nations which dread to have
their subjects armed are unjust gov
rrnmcnts. A just government. con-
Scious of the Righteousness of it's rule
arms it's subjects as Il measure of safe
| ty for the state, and those powers or
rulers who make the possession of
arms by their citizens a crime. write
land proclaim in such laws their own
absolute failure and condemnation
| There is not Il single Nationalist in
Ireland today who will not, within the
NEXT twelve months. pay more in tax
alton to the English eXchequer. upon
Particles of luxury, like whiskcy. tobac-
co. porter and beer. which he is not
compelled to buy. than would purchase
Il rifle. This being so. l am Il little
tired of Nationalist opponents of the
United Irish League here in Ireland
who write to America. saying. oh. if
you would only not send money to
| Mr.. William OBricn or to Mr.. John
Redmond in support of constitutional
|'agitation. but would subscribe. in
| stead. to Il fund for the purchase of
arms England would soon be brought
| to terms 0au%htcr). TNliS. my friends.
is only the lysteria of Il factionist Ma
| tiOnaliSm which would rather advocate
a movement against Mr. Redmond and
Mr.. O'Iricn than a real fight against
'England's power in this country. Let
us come down to the c;nOns of COM
nonsense, and recognise that to beat
foreign rule out of Ireland by force
we must employ force, and plenty of
|it: and. that if we arc ever to try. with
any chance Of success. to win freedom
by one or both means. we must first
begin by discarding the miserable.
nlaniacal feud Which separates Nation
Hlists into Scmi-hnstilc camps of phys
ral and moral force supporters Zap
plauSc).
'"Tllcrc are however. sinners on both
sides. Men who rely alone upon con-
Stitutional action are equally unrca-
S"lablc and as miSchicvOuS in con
Hrmning means ana methods which
have established liberty here and else
where rs the political soldiers of the
opposite school. RccOllcct what this
policy of insane rivalry has done
against our cause in this generation
chccrs,. When O'Conncll's movement
had succeeded in bandn" almost all
Ireland together for repeal. the ardent
advocates of the media of force com
mcncc1 to oppose his organization, and
| to urge the Use of Stcrncr methods
than agitation. Between the antagOn-
ism Of the two schools the great fam
inc found Ireland almost without
soul. and completely without courage.
Hence the appalling chapter of our
history. which tells of 100000 deaths
from starvation in a land with plenty
Of food and with 100000 of people,
and which records. to our eternal
shame as n race. that there were not