The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-10-13
Advises Against Any Dissension Among His
His Countrymen and Urges Cour-
age and Self-Control.
In Glowing Words He Declares the Long
Night is at Last Past and the Glorious
Goal is Near at Hand.s

At the convention of the United
Irish League held in Philadelphia
last week by far the most important
feature was the mastery grafton of
It p. O'Connor, M. p, the special
envoy from the Irish Parliamentary
Party. Mr.. O'Connor was deeply
moved by the enthusiastic reception
given to. him by the immense audi
ence presided over by Governor
Pennypacker of Pennsylvania. Mr..
o,Connor's speech was as follows:
Governor and Ladies and Gentle
mon sit IL more than a quarter of
: century since first stood on this
same platform in this same hall in
this city, These twenty-six years
and me holding the same opinion, ad-
yocaftng the same cause, denouncine
the same; abuses, and am sure all
those who were h the hall twenty
six years ago hold today the same
oplinons they held then. ~ Y
I dan take an illustration of a less
recent date. the bleak morning
of q month in the year 1900, the Par
iiament Of Ireland was destroyed. That
Parliament, in one shape Or another,
had existed for centuries. 1t had done
GOOD work IN it's day, SO far as a Par
lfannent could do good work. which was
restrained by. such limitations as the
noNer Of England had imposed upon
1t.
.irsIand's Protestant Parliament.
In that Parliament nobody but a
Protestant could sit; for in Parlia-
rnent few but Protestants could even
vote; it was as much an exclusive
assemblage as any that ever existed
In any partssof the world And yet
10 inspiring, 30 instructive, so en-
nobling is the national spirit able to
center around a national assembly
that this Parliament, exclusively OF
Irish Protestants, was beginning to
give to the Irish Catholics all thei1
liberties.
.ssass 4ssas Nay, more; in England there was
m almost exclusively Episcopalian
majority. The other. sects of Protest
ants were excluded practically from
I'll share in the government of the
country. The Protestants of the Irish
Parliament were more tolerant of the
Catholics of Ireland than the Episco-
palians of England. during their as
tendency were of the other Protest.
ant communicates of the English peo-
pie.
Lessons Of Nationality and Tolsration
L note that fact by way of empha-
si1ins this proposition, that there is
no phantom more unreal, no appre-
l1ension more absurd, than the Cry
tliat the recreation of the Irish Par.
iiament will mean injustice to the
Protestant minority of Ireland. No
Sir. No, sir. We learned our les.
Sons of Irish nationality from the
lisp of Protestants like Grattan and
Flood, and the liberty of the tolera-
tion they taught to us we are deter.
mined to maintain to all classes and
creeds Of our people in Ireland when
We are, In possession of our liberties.
Il is now 106 years since that Par.
Lament ceased to exist, and here ir
the city Of Philadelphia, which gave
an honored place to great English.
man IN the person of William Penn
more than century after that Par
lfament was destroyed. We have {
great gathering Of its citizens to de.
clare that the principles which Graf
tan represented and spoke for ii
1900 are our principles more than {
century afterward, and that we ar
determined, IL, 1t take even another
century, never to rest until the Par
liament that was destroyed once NOR,
exists on the soil Of Ireland.
In 1880 the Parnelite party, of which
n I was one Of almost the first members