The Irish standard., 1904-09-17

his view of the industrial activity re
ported to be alive and making itself
felt throughout Ireland he expressed
this astonishing opinion:
"Much of it, much of this talk about
Industrial growth, industrial progress
is the merest talk, the merest twad
die. There are men in Ireland preach
ing this so-called doctrine of industry
this doctrine of abandonment Of pc.
litical agitation, of political strife fol-
the ways of trade, of manufacture.
count it no less than heresy. What
good is Industrial activity, and how
can there be any progress when lit
tie ring Of ignorant Englishmen are
making our laws? Industrial progress
will come; it must follow the winning
of our rights. Those rights will per-
nit us to make laws which will en-
able industry to thrive. How can
there be progress when every law
that is enacted by the foreign legis-
lators, who govern Ireland, is aimed at
throttling Industry"
There is much that is heroic in this
figure Of Redmond, this man who by
all instincts, by training, and by early
surroundings should be an aristocrat.
There would be nothing unseemly i'll
his standing to-day with those land
lords of Ireland who, he says, will not
sell their lands, but who will be made
to sell. But that John Redmond is
what he is, the star of the mighty
drama now unfolding itself in the
house of commons, is one proof of his
genius.
The son Of William Archer Red
mond, of Wexford, of family of blue
blooded Norman Catholics. he was
sent for his education to Clongowes
Wood college, an historical Jesuit in
stitution of Ireland. He finished in
the equally exclusive and aristocratic
surroundings of Trinity college, Dub
lin. His family connections, his
friends, his associations of all his class
should have produced n different kind
of young man than John Redmond
when he stepped out to enter upon a
career. At Trinity the history of his
country had proved an enthralling
study. He found himself face to face
with the world at time when Ire
land was in the throes of a struggle
that needed new and blood trained as
was his, in a time when the brilliant
attainments Of Charles Stewart Par
nell were dazzling nations. Redmond
opened his ears to the voices of the
times; his conscience was touched by
what he heard, and he went to Par
nell. who lived in the neighboring
county of Wicklow, and asked to be
permitted to follow him.
My heart is in this fight" said he;
my place. my conscience tells me, is
with the people,"
Parnell accepted Redmond and ran
him for New Ross, in Wexford, his
home county, which seat he filled from
1881 to 1885, when he stood success
fully for North Wexford, which re-
elected him in 1886. Led by the ex-
ample of his elder brother, William
Redmond, he cast his fortunes with
Parnen and the Nationalist party.
William Redmond was not of age
when he was sent with his brother to
Australia to appeal to Irishmen, who
had found refuge there, for funds
to keep up the political agitation in
the old country and hold the seats in
the house of commons to which it was
entitled. They married there the two
daughters of the late John Dalton. a
wealthy resident of Sydney, N. S. W.
The wife John Redmond took home
from the Antipodes is dead. Four or
fife years since he married Miss
Beazley, Of Dublin, woman of great
beauty and attachments, who accom-
panies him on his visit and who has
become a great help to him in his pub
lie life. She is as keen on the cues.
tions of Ireland as many a statesman.
The plan outlined by the Irish Par
liamentary party contemplates not on.
~ the severing Of Erin, but Of the
colonies beyond the seas, from Britain,
According to this plan the colonies
will grow tired of knocking year after
year at the doors of Parliament and
begging for legislation which it can
not give them because of the Irish OBJ
struction and power in the house of
commons. If the laws which the COL
onies demand continue to be buried
year after year in the easements of
parliament their people in time, the
argument runs, will make their own
laws, and that, of course, means sepa.
ration.
To save the colonies England must
let Ireland go bag and baggage is John
Redmond's word, and until she does.
he declares, the fight will be waged
along the lines he is now pursuing.