The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-13
BRILLIANT TALK UPON iRELAND'S
 GREAT STRUGGLE
Rev. Father Illusion Addresses Large Audience at Poli's
 Theatre

If Ireland, even in the gloomy days of AS, with famine and pestilence. poverty and oppression on every hand, could have had a great strate- ert B. Lee. said Rev. Father James V. Illusion in an eloquent address last evening, the dream of Robert Emmet would have been realized and Ireland would have taken it's place among the nations of the earth. in defiance to her ancient foe.
 Father Hussion delivered a lecture on 'Ireland's Struggle for Faith and Fatherland from 17S2 to 1S4s." His reputation for oratory and eIoquence is not confined to St. Charles R. c. parish, where he is stationed as an assistant to Father Lynch. Polls thusiastic throng, bore evidence to the widespread admiration for the brilliant young clergyman and en- thusiasm in the cause of Ireland.
 The lecture and it's accompanying concert, were arranged by Division 1 ed vocaists ali s sang ethra timely aoGos numbers, with Mir. John Wilbur Dial at the piano. At the close of his lecture Father Illusion was presented with a handsome bouquet of roses.
 The theatre was filled to the doors with 8 large and fashionable gather ing. Seated in the boxes were many of the local Catholic clergy. The stage was decorated with palms and the national emblems of Ireland and the United States, and the body of the theatre was also decked in the flags of both countries. Under the magic spell of Father Russians matchless oratory, the big audience alternated> between smiles and tears, for the speaker held his auditors in the thrall of his earnest and eloquent speech. Very often, when he scared to flights of poetic fancy, the audi enthusiasm. Again. when he lower ed his voice. to the recital of the gloomiest and most tragic epochs of Irelands history, the throng was hushed to a death like stiffness that made the speakers voice, drop to a whisper audible in the innermost re- cesses of the theatre.
 Father Illusion was introduced by Former Alderman Patrick Cuddy, til \ chairman of the committee of ar- engagements in a very graceful speech. He referred to him as the ''soggarth aroon" of St. Charles par ish. tumultuous outburst of ap- plause greeted the appearance of the speaker. In part he said:
 "In turning to night to the His tory of Ireland, that long oppressed and distracted nation, it is not my in tention to bring you back to the of the glorious days of song and legend when the warriors of Ireland were crowned with regal splendor amid the acclaims of the people. desire to dwell for while this even ing on more modern times. I shall fo n the period from 1782 to 1S4S. I stand before you an advocate of peace and good will. A Catholic priest of God am I. Yet when call to mind the sufferings of a people as a noble, brave and generous as any in the that our fathers have endured be- meath the mailed hand of British tyranny I cannot but maintain God given right to entertain the feelings of a man.
 'In 17S2 the voice that was heard of untrammelled freedom. Ireland in that year became nation. Her cap- itol in these days presented a bril- liant scene. The ladies of the land looked down upon the regiments in green and waved their silken banners proudly felt it Q noble privilege to be the daughters of such a nation. Yet Ireland had not parliament of the people. Never had Ireland a nation al parliament because in this country never could the Irish Catholic people be represented.
 Those in power in 1782 owed their allegiance to the established church. So long then as the Catholics of Ire land were denied the right of suff- rage, and were unable to obtain a seat in the legislature of their coun- %yxy he Drct cfov vt lords find for themselves exclusive privileges. So it is that in 17S2 though Ireland had an army and a navy and a flag she was proud eto call her own, Ireland during the period of 16 years more or less lived as nation and took a place among the nations of the world. In 10 years from 17S2, the exports of the coun- try were more than doubled. Culture and art, agriculture and commerce advanced phenomenally. Let such testimony be salar plexus, or a clean John L. knockout if you will, for the shallow minded individuals who always cry out that Ireland neV- CT could govern herself.
 We come now to the days of '9S. Who fears to speak of '9S when any attempt to uplift the fallen form of the scaffold? Who fears to speak of '98 when ignorance was bequeathe1 to Catholics by legislation, and Cath ollie education was crime? Let the sons of Erin read upon the tomb stones of their sires the records of those bloody days. Let them tell 10 England how Gods annointed minis ters were hunted down like beasts of prey, driven to the mountains and there. thank God, there nature, kind ly nature, furnished them with caves wherein to worship which civilization had denied them. In the year of '98 the struggle was for God and for na- tional freedom when the rack was tearing limb from limb it's agonizing victims and when the jails were crowded and galleys loaded with slaves were sailing to the far off Antipodes.
 The conquest of Ireland however, was not complete in the hearts of the Irish people. The spirit of Irish na- tionality still lived unconquered and unsubdued. She was not conquer ed nation, for the fire of Christian faith still burned through the land, never to be eXtinguished.
 Then came the Act of Union, an act by which Ireland was dethroned and reduced to the position of British servitude. Their masters, the own CTS of the soil-robbers of the land!