The Irish standard., 1911-12-02
|RELAND'S Fidelity
TO HER LEADERS
Test of Past Five or Six Years
Most Severe on Irish Party,
Says Joseph Devlin.
The Country Was Asked to Trust
Mr.. Redmond and the Response
has Been Generous.
Irish Party is Now National in
Every Sense, Representing all
Sections and Glasses.

Mr.. Joseph Devlin addressed a great
gathering of members of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians in East Limerick
not long ago. In the course of his
speech Mr.. Devlin called attention to
the severe test which the Irish party
has undergone with credit to itself and
to the people of Ireland during the
past decade.
IF ever the fidelity Of Ireland to
Home Rule and to the Irish Parlia-
mentary Party was put to the test"
said Mr.. Devlin, "it was during the
past five or six years, and never did
a people emerge from a trial more
splendidly vindicated They proved
that the lessons of Irish history and
Of the past thirty years had not been
studied in vain, and that the vital
principles Of the National movement
and the essential conditions of it's sue.
SSoo WV ehoA"oGi1iy uioS!S SIoOo anu
resolutely asserted against all theii
assailants. Ireland was asked to trust
Mr.. Redmond and the Irish Party, and
the response was generous and satis-
flying beyond what any leader or
Party could have anticipated. Have
Mr.. Redmond and the Party justified
that confidence?
'"They have given Ireland a National
University, old age pensions, the great
Land Act of 1909. Increased funds for
teachers salaries and for school
buildings, and dozens of minor re-
forms, and they have crowned their
work by smashing forever the Veto
power of the House of Lords the
stronghold Of tyranny and oppression,
the inveterate enemy of Ireland, and
the last and greatest obstacle to the
passage of Home Rule. Not only that,
but they have brought Home Rule to
the front and made it's passage mat
ter not of the remote future, but in
Gil AoCoOAAtty VI l"o ySdIS dl lI0
very outside. This is record without
a parallel in Irish politics. 1t justifles
your trust in Mr.. Redmond and the
Irish Party, and it affords the strong
est possible grounds for a continuance
Of that trust until Home Rule has
been won and an Irish Parliament
%
for Ireland in College Green.
Tho Irish Party a National Party.
"Now, the Irish Party is not a sec
tiona1, but a National Party in every
sense Of the term, representing every
body of men in the country to whom
the Irish Party and the National move
ment owe more than to the laborers.
They were the backbone of the Land
League as they are of the United Irish
League today, but no Irish Leader,
from O'Connell to Parnell, and from
Parnel to Redmond. ever appealed to
them in vain for the help of the best
fighting men in the country when real
fighting, involving sacrifice of all that
men hold dear, was necessary. That
is why the. Irish Party has never
ceased to urge the claims Of the lab
orers. and I think you will readily ad-
NIT that they have urged them with
some success.
There has never been a scheme
proposed in the House of Commons
for the benefit of the workers, either
in town or in country, that has not
had the support of the Irish Party.
Why should it be otherwise? The
workers are the preponderating ma
jority of the electors. 1t is on the
basis Of their toll that the prosperity
of the country must be founded, and
whatever tends to make the conditions
of their work and Of their life and
living easier and brighter and better
contributes most powerfully to the
welfare and happiness of the country
as whole. The rights of labor and
the dignity Of labor can no longer be
ignored. Labor finds the best express
sion Of itself in organization, and
am glad to find that in East Limerick
the agricultural laborers have a strong
and an efficient organization, working
in complete sympathy, as 1t ought to,
with the United Irish League.