The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-10

 versal feeling of reverence and it must be based on something more substantial and enduring than mere hero worship and sentiment. else 1t would long since have perished and been forgotton, whereas to the contrary, 1t is stronger and more widespread today than at any future time, and is increasing in strength with the passing years.
 'Tn splendid address at Belfast. on Emmet's anniversary in 1902. Mir. Mich ael Davitt, whom all Irishmen delight to honor, attempted an explanation of this abiding love for the memory of Robert Emmet. need not apologize to you for quoting from this address somewhat length. for it Is always a pleasure to hear what MT. Davitt has said on any question. Here is what he said on that occasion:
 "'Firtune in all her wayward ca- prices, and success in It's darkest frowns upon worth and virtue, could not be more cruel or unkind to the name we love and honor; and yet no fame which a victor has ever won on a field of strife or that a statesman has more bright, more unsullied on endur- ing than that which an Irish youth of 25 has transmitted to our time from a scaftold in Dublin 100 years ago.
 Emmett's Hold on People.
 The hold which the name of Robert Emmet has upon Celtic imagination and memory, and the fascination which his fate has exercised upon many for eign minds Is almost phenomenon in the human cult of hero worship.
 "'No one of the Irish lenders had the same hold upon Irish minds or in- spired the same sympathetic feeling in students of our country'g history as Robert Emmet. His plan of revolt in Dublin would have excited the ridicule of Tone and O'Donnell; his seeming recklessness in the conception and at tempted execution of a scheme known in all its details to his enemies could challenge no praise from his most de- voted admirers. Yet his name Is al- ways foremost in what might call the historic affection of Irishmen for the memory of the best and greatest lead CTS of their country. The explanation lies in the Individuality of the Celtic race itself and in the spell which youth. coupled with a tragic fate and a tale one who willingly and nobly made the greatest of human sacrifices in the highest of human causes, that of a nations freedom. Ireland, liberty, sacrifice, love, are the four charms which adorn the name of Robert Elm met and which will not allow even the higher claims of longer service or the greater labors or more splendid gifts in other leaders to come nearer to Irish national affection than the stain less hero of love and failure whom England did to death in savage ven- geance a century ago.
 Fitting Theme for Poet.
 "In reality there was nothing want Ing in the tragic completeness of Elm nets life and fate to give his name a permanent and imperishable hold upon the warm, poetic temperament of a race like ours. He was gifted in a family not of rank. but what was much better, of worth and character. He had the priceless boon of youth. a mind of great culture for years as young as his, and he possessed the hoiiest of human prizes in the responsive love of a woman whom he deemed worthy of his affection Upon this prospect of 0 bright and happy existence, the doom of failure and disaster broke like a over a cloudless sky and shattered the life so full of promise, hope and blessing as the lightning and the tempest bend and break the shapely sapling in the fields. surely nothing more was lacking to make such a life and fate as his the theme of poets song and the undying ob- feet of Celtic thought and devotion"
 "The reasons assigned by so distln- guished a man as Mir. Davitt for the strong hold Robert Emlnet has on the Irish mind are entitled to tn emost re- spectful consideration and would be &C., ,epted without question but for the fact that his hold upon those whose temper ament is not so warm and poetic as the Irish is not less strong. He does not live alone in the affeetionate remem- orance of Irishmen, but his memory is .eversd, honored and respected through put the civilized world. He iR not only