Norwich bulletin., 1910-04-13
DR. SEAMAN ON IRISH PROSPECTS
Aroused Hibernans High Pitch of Enthnsiasm by His
 Address to Joint Meeting of Local Diviso6s.

Division No. 2, Ancient Order of Hi bernians, on Tuesday evening in Ha- bernian hall enjoyed what was ad- mitted by all to have been the finest meeting of its career when it's members and the officers of Division No. l, who were guests, were stirred to unbound ed enthusiasm by an eloquent address by Dr. D. J. Sha7nan upon finish Pros poets from a Radical Point of View"
 President Frank J. Murtha was chairman of the meeting, which first discussed briefly the proposition for a county field day to include athletic ter is to come up before a county board meeting to be called by County Presi- dent James c. Sullivan of New Lon don.
 Songs and Speech.
 Irish songs by Roger Tighe and Thomas Houhhan were greatly enjoy ed. Quoting at intervals in his ad- dress some of the poetical gems that have been called forth by Ireland s tragic history, Dr. Shaflan Began his address with a scathing arraignment of Irish in our communities who deny their country by deridingi and ridicul- ing the land of their birth, their fellow countryunen and all that is Irish.
 He said in part:
 Such men should feign the virtue of love of country, if they do not natural ly possess it, and speak at least with respect, if they cannot with sympathy or intelligence, upon the wrongs of their native land.
 We might assert as a truism that Ireland is probably the most inquired into and probably the most unfOrtu- nate country on the face of the globe. She is the most inquired into because her history is so full of events and beseeching appeals. And, most unfor- tunate, perhaps, from fhe circum- cal relationship.
 Turn back, then. 100 years or so, with me, to the last days of simple politi- cal connection with England, and you will find that this trail which has scrawled so many pages of her history had gEded off, had swiveled off, as it were, and left at least a few decent pages in what is known as the Grafton chapter or Grattan period.
 What that period produced I will not undertake to enumerate. Of what IS known as the Grattan parliament l will not trouble you with an opinion. But John Mitchell tells us that no 1egds- lative body sitting in one house ever possessed so large a number Of great orators, learned lawyers and accom- p1iShed gentlemen That was the par turning the key in the doors of that parliament locked justice up, made maniacs of Irish liberty and freedom, and marked the year 1900 so evenfful. so disastrous to Ireland, so disgraceful to England, with all the consequences that have ensued to the present day.
 impoverished Ireland.
 Those consequences have impover- ished Ireland, not alone through ab- sentee rents, but through the forced inability of the people to bear the strain of taxation. with no appreciable return. for, no visible reason but to strengthen and fortify a proud and cruel nation which claims the Irish widows mite, the Irish orphans pit tance, through that forced and abomi- oI>l1 <.f a ha rrrnin Great Britain and Ireland
 Let us, while tangent to the sub ject compare the period preceding the union with that immediately follow ing it.
 Just previous to the time of the un- ion, the Irish national debt was 4,e00. GOO pounds sterling-that was in 1890. In 1901, after the union, the national sterling. Scarcely one year of British rule ran it up to nearly seven times the amount at which it stood under the Irish parliament.
 Well, what happened? Con- densed in few words, it shows thar this 2a,OO0.o00 pounds sterling was national debt of 50,o00O00 pounds sterling ($2,225, 900, ,000), and that from that day to this, Ireland has been im- poverished by being compelled to pay an unfair share on that amalgamated ed debt, the pre-union debt-charge of Great Britain, not being, as 1t should have been, separated from it. Thus. we've run straight across one of Eng lands wrongs, a wrong that has em- bodied the destruction of a national parliament, the production of unbear- able evils and the obliteration of a nations industries. And hence i. is. to the restoration of that parliament under whose fostering care those ln- dustries were once so flourishing. that the Irishman naturally looks for thelr revival and renewed prosperity.