The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-04-23
ly responsible to the people whose laws
they are making in furtherance of their
own selfish interests.
o'eRiEN ON THE RAMPAGE.

o'eRiEN ON THE RAMPAGE.
Time was when William OBrien
was the idol of his own countrymen.
With his eloquent tongue and pen he
rendered signal service to Ireland and
suffered Imprisonment for her sake.
He was tireless and courageous in de-
nouncing landlordism in parliament,
and on the platform, and from one end
of the Green Isle to the other his name
was a household word among the
pepasantry. He was loved and esteem
ed by the victims of British oppres-
sion, and wherever he went throughout
thusiastic ovations. He crossed the
Atlantic to plead the cause of his
country and by his earnestness and
sincerity and the pathos of his ap-
peals he thrilled the vast multitudes
that heard him. That was away back
in the sos.
William O'Brien is not the same man
today that he was then. He has COM
pletely changed. Instead of condemn
ing landlords, as in the past, he is
now their intimate associate. His
bosom friends are the Dunravens, the
Castletowns, the Rossnores, the Free
masons and the Orangemen, and he
has turned his back on the former
colleagues he abandoned and now ac-
cuses them of being "bigots without
religion and conspirators without ma
tionality." What is the matter with
O'Brieno Has he been changed by the
rich Russian Jewess whom he took for
his wife and who is prominent in aris-
tocratc Protestant circles?
The speech recently made by O'Brien
in Cork when launching his All for Ire
land League is enough to drive him
from the ranks of Irish Nationalist.
AS the Irish American of New York
says. it needs no comment; it con-
dennis itself. On the front page of
this issue we give refutation of his
charges from John Dillon in speech
made at Athlone. That proved patriot
declared that O'Brien's charges have
no foundation in fact and that they
are not deserving of a serious denial.
He attributed his vagaries to two
chronic diseases, viz, a swelled head
and love of the lords. He denied in
emphatic words that Lloyd George ever
conveyed to him or to Mr. Redmond an
invitation from O'Brien to meet him
in conference on the budget Why not
come to us direct, asked Mr.. Dillon,
instead Of using the Chancellor of the
Exchequer as a go-between?
Last Monday in parliament ques-
ton of veracity arose between O'Brien
and Lloyd George in consequence of
the statements made by the former in
his vituperatiye Cork speech to which
Dillon replied at Athlone. In billings
gate worthy of Biddy Moriarity or any
abusive fishwoman within the sound
of Shandon bells, O'Brien attacked his
former colleagues and declared that
Lloyd George had promised him con-
cessions for his support of the budget.
Lloyd George denied in parliament
that he ever promised him anything
and that O'Brien's account of the in
terview was grossly inaccurate; where
upon O'Brien dramatically exclaimed:
1.-The matter involves the honor and
character Of the minister, and, great
parsonage as he is, he thereby raises
an issue of truthfulness and straight
dealing which I am quite willing shall
be judged by those who know me and
know him."
1t is not probable that Lloyd George
would promise O'Brien any concessions
for he has 40 majority Independent of
the man from Mallow and his little
squad of seven to pass the budget
The budget will pass whenever John
Redmond says so and not till then.
O'Brien is simply making fool Of
himself. Let him join the Conserva-
tives.