The Irish standard., 1908-12-05

persistently and repeatedly :nado
against the Irish Party during the last
three years are: First, that at the las
General Election the Irish Party gavs
the Irish votes slavishly to swell an
immense Liberal majority, without ex-
tracing from the Liberals pledges on
Home Rase. and thereby made the
Liberal Party independent of the Irish.
Secondly, that ever since the General
Election we have been the subservl-
ent slaves Of the Liberal Party. sup
Thirdly. that we have betrayed the
cause Of the Catholic schools. Fourth
~. that all our trampings through the
Hobbies Of the House Of Commons dur
ing the last three years have resulted
in nothing, and that we have got no.
thing for the people. Filthy. that we
progress Of Land Purchase in ireland.
have only selected these out of a
vast number. because they are charac-
teristic, because they are serious. and
because If any one Of them were true,
1t would be the duty Of Irishmen-you
Irishmen here and throughout the
Party at once and deny it. will an Z.
alyze these charges, and II, as should
prove, there is not a shred or shadow
Of foundation for anyone Of them, IL
they are proved to be absolutely and
Indignantly false charges, is not the
inference Irresistible that they have
been made Just as tho charges Of "Par-
nellism and Crime" were made Of old,
for the purpose Of undermining and
destroying tho Irish Party?
Having answered three charges in
regular order, Mr.. Dillon came to tho
fourth. and said:
Now I come to the fourth charge
that all our labors have been fruitless.
That IL an astonishing charge. It Is
said the Irish Party tramped the Lob
biss Of the House Of Commons for the
last three years, and spent vast sums
Of money, and they have had nothing
to bring home tc Ireland. have been
twsnty-sight years in the House Of
Commons, and say that there never
was three years more fruitful in re-
suits to the Irish Party than the last
three years; and I say, further. with
all the great measures that have been
passed, I never remember measures
which were moro directly and abso-
lutely the end Of constant labor and
sleepless watchfulness of the Irish
Party. What have we brought home7
First of all. the Laborers Act, passed in
1906, which embodies all the great 70.
forms which we have been lighting for,
session after session for fifteen weary
years. Under that Act at this moment
thirty thousand cottages, each with
one acre of land attached to it, are be-
ing erected in Ireland to house the
poor, wretched Irish laborers, who used
to live in mud novels unfit for dogs.
say there never was an Act more
bcneficent and more needed than that
- Act. Then come to the Repeal Of the
Arms Act. I have heard critics from
the school of advanced Nationalist, as
they call themselves, though think
nm just as advanced as many Of them
II have heard those gentlemen talking
and saying, "Oh, you go to Parliament
and hob-nob with English Ministers,
but what about the Arms Act-you
never have taken that off the statute
bcok?" They never give us credit for
the fact that we raised the question
every year. and Cid our best, but when,
having man like Sir Henry Camp
bell -Bannernan at the head of the Lib
eral Party, and having said to him,
I'VE must get rid of this Act" he met
US fairly, like an honest scotchman. as
he was, and sait. Certainly" and he
repealed the Arms Act, and in Ireland
today every man is as free as far as
arms IL concerned as in any country
in the world. I sometimes think these
men were rather sorry to part with
that grievance, for now we never hear
q word about it.
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