The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-03-21

IOuI d country ana without a GOG, save
 his own selfish ambition, cold blooded
 stony hearted Castelreagh. The des- | tiny of the nation was in the balance
 Among the spectators in the gallery
 was the young barrister, the young 1 lawyer who would one day stir the
 word The gloomy picture of his
 country in disgrace loomed up before him. A silence like that of doom came over all. There was no cOun tenance that day, history tells us, in that su-
 prenle moment. to which the heart did to the number of 200 arose to the raf-
 ters of that classic hall Women fainted. screams and hisses rent the galleries, strong men wept like new made orphans They watched the
 speaker until he flung the cursed bill
 away
 sThe young lawyers blood boiled as
 he followed the bier of his country out of the halls Its an infamous libel.
 It's false, he cried. And now began
 that memorable part that God had ap-
 pointed O'Connell should play in the
 worlds history. He consecrated his 1 life to the recovery of religious free l dom and the civil emancipation of Ire 1 land Not a soldier with cruel l arms, but a man with intellect. He l chose the darkest hour in his country s 1 history to sound the trumpet of his years the first great struggle lasted | for Catholic emancipation. During that time he met and mastered the greatest intellects of England, Pitt, Pell and Wellington. He promised his
 countrymen religious freedom if they
 would obey him. But they feared like themselves. They feared they would be stripped of the only treasure
 left them, the fast relic of the nation,
 their holy church, and they cried to
 put down this nadman before the Saxon wolves turned upon then- They
 made no complaint to sacrifice every
 thing save God and virtue. It was all
 they wanted now, all they looked for.
 All hope besides was crushed in the
 Irish breast.
 throughout the world. The Irishman
 awoke to the call of their countryman.
 The Catholic association in which re-
 ligion played no part was organized.
 A penny a month from the peasant and a pound from each of the gentry brought means to propagate the cauSe.''
 It was when O'ConneM was sent to parliament, the speaker continued. not as an Irishman but a. loyal British subject, that he had his great oppor- tunity. Through his influence George ", ''Europe's crowned buffoon'', was forced to sign a bill giving Ireland un- qualified religious freedom.
 S5cathingly did Father McKenna ar raign George " when he spoke of the tears the king shed as he was forced to smear the document with his name. ''They were devils tears,'' he exc1aim- ed. He recalled the kings treatment of his wife. his old friend Richard Brinsley Sheriden- It was the great l
 
 the speaker, when as Irish Catholic he now claimed the right to occupy a seat in British parliament not as an Irishman but a Catholic subject of Great Britain. As an Irishman he represented the state in proud St. Ste l phen's, and as a Catholic subject of the empire he would represent his con- stituents.
 When OfConneH entered the house, | he glanced over that portion Of the | oath which states that the sacrifice of Tn fho inv ion of ed Virgin Mary and the saints as Irac- | ticed in the Church of Rome, was inn pious and idolatrcus, he branded it as false eff you were to refuse me a seat forever I would not take this cath '' he declared, and the men arose and cheered him as they left the house. ] incarnation of his race, a. hero whom tyranny would not down. He re- turned a second time and this time parliament to avcid friction struck out at once the libellous portion of the oath.
 Now ccme we. said the speaker, to men begin to think of quiet and retire ment he entered upon the most might ly ambition of his life. He began his struggle for the repeal of the union. It had been his ambition since the night on college green when he belleld country. Then he a, youth, un- known. Now he enjoyed Q worldwide fame. From the '+bog orator. he be- came the orator of the age the par liar3en tartan par excellence. When occasion demanded he outshone both Burke and Macaulay. Wendell Phil lips who had heard Webster, Calhoun, and Clay, placed O'Connell as the peer of the Roman Cicero. A noted man of the time, who could not tolerate the presence of an Ir'ishman, enraptured speeches, cried out, ttI have heard the orator of the age That is the man, those are the lips that speak English best in my time.' With a brow like deep and resonant. rising with easy swell, he held spellbound the passions of the multitude
 T call upon Charles Dickens" said he, then the noted chief reporter of the gallery, to tell us why there are not more of O'Connell.s speeches. Be cause Dickens said, it was a psy- chologicaI impossibility to write when 0'Connell spoke They listened, they could not write Even if they had written as OConnen spoke, the Brit nave printed O'Connens speeches."
 Though 6S years of age, he retained he full possession of his faculties, and ,or the first time in POO years an Irish he lord mayor of Dublin. The Irish locked in countless thousands to Dub in to salute their chieftain. Conte1n- with this period of O'Con- lell's career was Father Matthews eloquent campaign, as he held aIoft s he nations badge the banner of total abstinence.
 Father McKenna then recalled the famous scene on Tara's Hill when OiConnell was surrounded by S00.000 of lis valiant countrymen, and 10000 Brit sh soldiers who had been sent to down he revolutionary Irish. A word from O'ConnelI would have led to terrible but he did not believe in battles of bloodshed.
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