Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1911-09-30
Will Reaffirm COuntry's Adhe-
sion to Erin's Undying
Cause.
Ireland Now Nearing the Con-
summatiOn of Her Long
Struggle.
The DAYS OF BITTERNESS PAST

Arrangements have been made all
over Ireland for a monster demon
stration in Dublin on the occasion of
the unvailing of the Parnell monu-
ment. Every county and every par
ish will be represented and all the
Nationalist public bodies of the
country will be present in full
strength. In fact it looks as If all
Nationalist Ireland will be there to
pay a tribute of respect to the MEM
ory of the great chief and to re-af-
firm the country's adhesion to the
undying cause he spent his life in
laboring for.
Commenting upon this the Dun
dalk Democrat says the years that
have passed since Parnell died have
wiped out the memory Of the sad
and bitter days that followed his fall.
The enmities then engendered be-
tween Nationalists have disappeared.
Those who followed Parnell and
stood by him in his last heroic fight
against English dictation have been
justified by the course of political
events since then. No one presumes
to deny that they fought for great
fundamental political principle.
They have observed the truce of 1900
in the letter and the spirit. They
have worked Loyalty with the masses
of their fellow-countrymen who were
for ten years estranged from them,
and in this great national tribute to
ParnelPs memory they will cooper
ate cordially with them. The "Parnell
split" indeed may have been to our
country a blessing in disguise. 1t
checked the National movement for
la decade and rendered Ireland's
strength impotent. 1t brought into
Irish politics a spirit that had during
Parnell's day of power existed only
under the surface. 1t estranged good
Irishmen for a time, and 1t drew
away from the National movement
bodies of Irishmen who had-openly
at least-supported it in days when
ireland was united and disciplined.
But II it did all this, it helped to
weed out the unworthy and half
hearted. 1t brought to the surface
the disaffection and disloyalty that
public opinion had hitherto kept
IdoWn-but which was there all the
time. 1t strengthened the movement
by purifying it, for the men and the
elements that have worked since
Parnell's day to- promote friction and
diseord for selfish ends must have
shown themselves at some time-and
might have done so with worse re-
suits had they been permitted to
spread their spirit of disloyalty
through the masses of the people.
Today they are outside the Irish
movement, for Irishmen have had
twenty years experience of them,
and have been taught by that ex-
perience. Irishmen have learned to
discriminate between those who
opposed Parnell on what they con-
sidered patriotic grounds, and those
who turned upon him to advance
their own base designs and selfish
interests, and whose vile tongues and
viler minds were responsible for the
bitterness that marked the early days
of the great Irish political chasm.
Today that bitterness has long
passed. Irishmen recognize only the
lofty aims, the strenuous service, the
mighty achievements of the great
Irish Tribune. History has placed
Parnell in a niche all his own
amongst the leaders who successfully
arose to guide the Irish people on
the path to freedom. We are near
ling the contamination of our strug-
giles. Had Parnell lived We might
have reached IL sooner. But were 1t
not for him many a generation OF
Irishmen might have come and
gone, and seen Ireland wallowing in
that slough of discord and Whiggery
from which he raised his fellow
lcountrymen. The great lesson OF his
life may be summed up in the words
unity, self-rellance, self-denial-
but above all unity. The vast army
THAT he disciplined and banded to-
lgether was the weapon by which he
wrung concession after concession
from English statesmen. 1t lives
after him, and II its discipline is not
so keen, its bond of union less strong,
the fault is ours. Let us as we join
In honoring the memory Of this great
Irish leader and patriot, resolve TO
follow steadfastly the path he
showed us to strengthen the bonds
Of fellowship that should bind all
Itrue Nationalists, 10 keep the ranks
unbroken and TO show once more
that grand united front TO our coun-
try's enemies that will win the vic
tory IN the final struggle that Is
before us. II we fail In that, our
tribute 10 Parnell's memory will be
mockery and a sham, for we shall
be rejecting HIS teaching and his
policy and helping to destroy the
great movement which he built up
and guided.