The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-05-21
Robert Emmett dead, was solitary to
Sarah Curran.
HOUSE OFLORDS
Why tho Irish People Hate It Is Told
BY DevIin.

BY DevIin.
In recent speech at Armagh, Jo-
seph Devlin, M. P, gave some reasons
for the hatred of the Irish people
against the House of Lords. He said,
in part:
Probably before the end of the
present year the question will have
been settled one way or the other
whether the power of the house of
lords or the power of the house of
commons is to prevail in the framing
of legislation for the government of
Great Britain and Ireland. The issue
between the two houses is of long
standing, but, thanks to the pressure
of public opinion, and not least of
Irish public opinion, directed with
rare courage and craftsmanship, the
battle is now joined, and on it's re-
suit of fate of representative govern
ment in these countries for perhaps
a generation must depend. The
triumph of the lords means for Ire
land the entrenchment in power of her
malignant and implacable enemies,
and the indefinite postponement of
home rule. The defeat of the lords
means the triumph of home rule, and
national settlement between Great
Britain and Ireland, which everyone
CT 1o4
new era of peace and friendship be-
tween the two countries. That is why,
in this struggle, the whole weight and
influence of the Irish people il thrown
against the house of lords.
Even if the abolition of the lords
veto did not mean home rule for Ire
land, the wrongs which Ireland has
suffered at the hands of the house of
lords have been so persistent and so
grievous that Irishmen would find it
all but impossible to withhold their
sympathy and support from any at
tack made upon that ubiquitous insti-
tuition, which has offered a steady op-
position to every advance of the Irish
nation on the road to emancipation
and liberty. But for the house of
1898, Ireland would now be enjoying
the fruits of IL years of national self
government, and the strangest argu-
ment put forward by the supporters
of the house of lords today is that it
is the last barrier standing between
Ireland and home rule.
"Take the period from the passing
of the Act of Union down to the pres
ent day, and, if you examine it care
fully, you will find that no single
measure for the benefit of ireland has
escaped opposition or mutilation by
the house of lords. Catholic emanci-
patton was delayed by the lords until
the fear of civil war in Ireland COM
PEELED it's passage The 1.-THE system
was not abolished until the opposition
of the people threatened to deluEe the
country in blood, municipal reform
was thwarted and delayed, and when
finally conceded, was so shaped as to
render it rather a measure of penal
ization than of pacifcation. The dis
| reimbursement Of the Irish people for
more than half century following.
emancipation is one of the strongest
points in the indictment of Ireland
against the house of lords, while the
| opposition of the lords to land reform
and to local and national self governs
ment for Ireland has been one of the
| blacklist chapters in the history of the
past century, and has been responsible
for the perpetuation of that racial an
tagonism between the two countries
which it is the desire Of every friend
of both to see before long finally Grad
icated and replaced by feeling of
mutual trust and confidence and re-
snect"