The Irish standard., 1911-08-05
At Bienniel Convention Mr.. Devlin
Says Recent Progress Has not
Been Equaled.
Enemies of the Order by Attempts
to Discredit it Have Proved
Recruiting Agents.
Purpose of Hibernions to Unite All
Creeds for Common Good of
the Country.

At the Biennial Convention Of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians in Dub
lin Mr.. Joseph Devlin, national presi-
dent, spoke at considerable length on
the progress which the Order had
made during the past two years. The
facts given out by Mr.. Devlin came as
a surprise to even the delegates who
had been active in the work. Speak
ing of the record of achievements Mr..
Dcvlin said:
ut is record without parallel in
the history Of any similar Irish organ
ization. 1t constitutes the Order the
greatest Irish organization of its kind
which has ever existed, whether in
point of numerical strength, Of unity.
of efficiency, or of loyalty to common
principles. / think that is record
of which any society might well be
proud. What is most remarkable
about 1t is that it has not been due
to any extraordinary effort in the way
of propaganda by the official staff"
Continuing Mr.. Dcvlin said: AT
the end Of 1909 we had GAG divisions
affiliated. We have now 755-an in
crease of 1903 divisions in two years.
The increase in membership in Ire
ttiaIld las been ,1,6S3 i ill., tland, 81
1872: in England, 1854; in Wales, 100;
the total increase being 1929. The
South African Division has increased
by so members, and is one Of ,thc most
promising of those affiliated"
This unparalleled growth Mr.. Dew
lin attributes to the propaganda Of
the enemies of the Order of whom he
! says: But think that no small
increase which we have to record to-
day is due to the magnificent prOpn-
ganda work which has been done for
it by its enemies They have proved
incomparably the best recruiting
agents the Order ever had. They have
exhausted their resources in the at
| tempt to villify and to discredit the
Order They have assailed it with a
mcndacity, a nlalignity. and a fcrocity
without parallel in the annals of cal
umny, and they have employed against
| it all the resources of unlimited wealth
backed by all the weight and influence
of the Tory Party i'm England and the
Asccndancy Party in Ireland. But it
has all been in vain.
The enemies of the Order the cne-
| themselves to be. have been defeated
and dscrcdited, their miserable cam
paign has ended in their utter rout,
while the Order has emerged from
their attack stronger and more invinc-
| ible than ever.
Influence of A. o. H. in U. 8.
when ! am asked why should such
a society exist on the basis of Catho-
| licity and Nationality" the speaker
continued, 81 reply by asking why
should it not? is there any special
stigma or disgrace in being d Catholic
and an Irishman. any more than in
being a Protestant and Unionist--
or any more than in being an Irish
Catholic, and, at the same time, the
slanderer Of ones own -religionists
| nj ho 10, nti Ia
servitor and the despised scullion of
ones country's enemies? This is a
Catholic country. AS Mr.. T.. w. Rus
sell says, you cannot alter that fact.
1t is for the crime of being a Catholic
country that the Tory Party are go
| ing to assail ireland in the most in
famous campaign Of slander which
men of one nation ever waged against
another Surely in this country where
Orange societies exist. where Freema-
son societies exist, welding enormous
social and political power-surely it is
permissible, at this distance from the
Penal days. for Catholic and Ma
tionalist society to exist. which is pub
licly registered, whose aims and OBJ
| jects are open and avowed-which is
| Nationalist in spirit and in ain-and
which has for It's motto, Unity, Fra
ternity and True Christian Charity
The Order has existed in the Unite
States for generations, and 1t has nev.