The Irish standard., 1910-12-17

Rule, they stand today permanent
clock in our way. They have op-
pressed and enslaved the starved and
murdered the Irish race. Their
crimes against Ireland today CRY
aloud to Heaven for vengeance. Where
Ireland stood powerless during the
century she was impotent against
this powerful and rich foe. All, truer
words were never said or written than
the words of the Irish poet, Justice
lives, though judgment ingers," and
now at the end of the century at last
!reland-poor, weak, despised and op-
pressed Ireland-has given to her the
opportunity by her hand of subduing
the arrogance and destroying the
power Of the House OF Lords. The
House Of Lords, as we have known it
for the last century-the House OF
Lords, deaf to the voice of mercy and
Of Justice, deaf to the cry of misery
and suffering, and of famine, deaf to
all demands of liberty-the House of
Lords, as We have known it, is at
this moment dead and buried. 1t no
longer exists, and its old leaders are
engaged in the vain endeavor to avert
the awful consequences of their
crime. They have pleaded through
Lord Lansdowne and all their leaders
they have pleaded guilty at the bar
Of public Justice, and today they are
whining for mitigation of the SEN
tence. I say here today it is too late.
Their sin has found them out The
Iower of the House of Lords is brok-
en- and must go, and tell you here
today that 1t will go absolutely and
at once, with it the only obstacle that
stands between us and Home Rule in
This country. When the veto power
Is gone all that will remain to be done
will be for sensible, patriotic and
moderate men to settle down quietly
to consider the details of Home
Rule scheme, and we will be engaged
with this work, please God, before
many months are over. Now, if this
election ends in a victory of the pop
ular forces against the House of
Lords it will be decisive. You will
remember, you are SO keen in fol-
lowing every turn of the political
movement, you will remember that
last April the prime minister de-
clared that under no circumstances
would he advise a dissolution of par
lament unless he was certain that il
he came back with majority again
the will Of the people so declared
would be carried out. Well, he re.
peated that declaration three or four
rights ago in the House of Commons
He has dissolved parliament, and
therefore I say that If the popular
forces win victory over the House
OF Lords no more general elections
will be necessary-that victory will
be decisive. Now, say that Ireland
Las reason to be proud that hers is
the hand to strike this deadly blow
against the hereditary enemies of
their race. Men have said to me IN
the months that have passed that We
ought to have assisted the House of
Lords to defeat the budget. The bud
get. one budget, twenty budgets, one
hundred budgets don't weigh in the
scale against Irish liberty. Had we
done so we would have saved the
House of Lords. Had we done so
the constitutional crisis would have
been dead years ago. Had we done
so the great hereditary enemies of
our race, the House Of Lords, would
have been entrenched in an impreg-
nable position for the next SO years,
and we might go whistle for Home
Rule know no man today that aft
or the events which have taken place
recently will tell me that Ireland
ought to sacrifice Home Rule in order
to save the House of Lords. Thank
God we have got our chance of strik-
ing this blow, and thank God in that
moment Of vital consequence to our
lace when the future of Irish free.
dom was hanging in the balance we
forgot everything except that we were
Irish Nationalists ready to sacrifice
anything to gain our liberty, and that
we struck the blow that precipitated
the ruin and destruction of the House
of Lords. Now I say that it is a sin
and a scandal that at this vital crisis
we in Ireland should be distracted
from our main business by even a
whisper Of dissension among men who
call themselves Nationalists. And yet
at this moment, when all our minds
and energies should be bent on the
great work that isl say only
this about what is called FEEDER
alism-that the concession of a