The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-08
HON. JOHN I. KEATINGS MASTERLY ADDRESS
 AT ROBERT EMMET ANNIVERSARY EXERCISES

Catholic alien Lucas, Molyneux and l Swift wrote and spoke for those who | were denied by English law the right | to speak for themselves.
 l "Grattan and Flood believed an in- dependent Parliament was the panacea l for all ills but it was the menace of | go. 900 Irish volunteers won what their 1 eloquence could not obtain. The Eng | fish statesmen played on the hopes of | the Catholic Bishops against the def- | ance of the patriots and the closing years of the eighteenth century saw | Catholic official influence allied with
 Castlereagh in the accomplishment of | the plans of William Pitt The Secre-
 tary of the Catholic Committee. the Pr otestant patriot Theobald Wolfe
 Tone struck the keynote when he said. | the bane of Ireland is the English | connecticut
 From America, Hope
 | ''The success of the American Re- public under Washington gave hope to | the suffering millions of Ireland and | from the Democracy of the Nation
 came the effort to establ a Republic on Irish soil. No longer was it cry to follow this chieftain or that. no
 longer was it a compromise leading to
 acceptance of an alien Catholic king ! to found an Irish monarchial dynasty | no longer was it plea limiting it's de-
 mands to religious liberty and man. l agenent of it's local affairs by a local Parliament subject to English control.
 No. it was a we'll voiced conviction that complete independence of all foreign connection and esta blishment | Of an Irish Republic would alone bring back to Ireland and her people the | liberties she had lost and enable them to develop the resources which boun- teous Providence had hidden in her bosom or stored in her hills.
 'Treachery to their best interests un- der pretense of acting from high mo- tives allied with the venality of the legislators destroyed the few remain Irish Parliament. The Eighteenth cen-
 tury closed in horror and misery which even English historians would gladly forget and studiously ignore.
 The Great Sacrifice
 'It was necessary that some great sacrifice should be offered. It was inn perative that some unfHrgettabIe event should occur which would live forever
 ill the hearts of the Irish people. The hour demanded that some deed would wkere an Irishman should wander he would bear with him imperishable memory. some inextinguishable fire to | remind him of Ireland. her sacrifices. her hopes, her destinies. It was re- quired that whatever it was to be it must be acceptable to all the Irish people. to the whole Irish democracy
 irrespective of descent or religious connection. The tragedy-for alas, in Ireland only tragedy marked the course of events. must prove that love of country and desire for her liberty were not confined to the Catholic serf. it must be a death blow to bigotry as well as a rebuke to those whose relig- ious utilization with the majority of the people made them easy prey for un- Scrupu1ous ministers and the affections of Irish Catholics would be divided be- tween the priests of their faith and the Protestant hero who in his bap- tism of blood earned niche next to that filled by the Apostle Patrick in the hearts of the children of the Gael
 The Line of Emmet
 Robbed of the remnant of their Hb- critics. of the industries which had brought them temporary prosperity. Protestant Ireland as we'll as Catholic Ireland lay once again at the feet of needless of the future. From the ranks of those desoen led from the Cromwell ian settlers arose him who was the chosen one and the name of Robert Emmet came into the life of the Irish Nation to resuscitate it's hopes. to win for it the sympathy of generations then unborn and leave it task to ac- complish which meant the redemption of the land from alien rule.''
 The speaker here depicted a sketch of Emmet's life and execution. Con- tinuing he said:
 EIOquence of O'ConneH
 ''The Nation turned from the horrid scene in Thomas street and slowly groped it's way in darkness which over shadowed their future The close of continual wars brought deciirte in the country followed by misery. want and eviction. The gifted O'Connell with persuasive eloquence inspired the be- lief that religious inequality, denying the right of Irish Catholic to sit in a l British parliament. was the cause of their sufferings. Mutely in impressive l thousands they followed him from meeting to meeting until the increas- l iy,rr @hA British Minister and the civic disablf- l ties of the Catholics were removed. | The tithe collectors continued their war on the unhappy people and the could win no relief.
 "The fascinating eloquence of the great Tribune declared a repeal of the Act of Union caused by Castlereagh in 1900 was the only method to redress their wrongs and for years the daily increasing thousands followed their leader from county to county drinking with thirsty lips his fierce denunciation fdent that if England refused his stem torfan demands he had an alternative which would with one stroke cut the GOrdian knot and despite of British power overthrow the intolerable sys- tenn which impoverished them.
 Famine of '77
 'fThe clang of the prison cell door closing on their leader was the death kne1 of their hopes. The reappearance of O'Connell broken and discredited failed to re-awaken national enthusi- asm. for moral suasion which com- pletely vanished when the icy hand of famine filled ditches with the dead bodies of thousands of the finest peas antry in the world and the emigrant ship bore away to distant land such of the survivors as had the means to speed their departure. The land was the only means of subsistence and from the death of O'Connell until re- turn of the famine in 1877 the political fife of the Irish Nation was marked by 'ruit1ess endeavor of the agriculturist 70 win from the soil sufficient to satis- y the rapacity of the landlord who though Irish. had been estranged from ,heir fellow countrymen through Eng ish policy which desired to create out of the land owners a class loyal to British interests and antagonistic to National ideals.
 Growing Spirit of Emmet