The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-05-27

the stab of an English spy, not one
Wolfe Tone perishing by his own
hands rather than furnish added fruit
to the British gallows, but sixteen of
the very highest blossoms of the
whole human family; sixteen who
could not have been paralleled, as I
have said, in Ireland at any other
time; sixteen who, in any other So
ciety in the world, would have been
crowned with the laurels which the
noble and the good and the free place
upon the brows of the best-these
sixteen are shot dead, slaughtered,
butchered, by the government that
openly proclaims such measures are
necessary to it's eistence!
Ladies and gentlemen, l have not
come to awaken narrowing memories,
but to ask, what now? How shall we
do that? No, ladies and gentlemen,
let me say, not even now do want to
say, down with anybody. I say, Up
with Ireland! And she can't be ele-
waited without elevating all. I come
here before an American audience
and you are the best Americans on the
island, believe. I come here before
an American audience as an Ameri.
can, to say, what now? come here
as a member of civilized society to
ask: What must we do to preserve
it's integrity and to open up the path
way of progress before us? Govern
ment is the ultimate proof of civiliza-
ton; government cannot be higher
than the civilization it embodies.
When government discredits civiliza-
ton, then civilization must perish, or
the government discrediting it must
end.
Irish Nationality lndestructibIe.
Further on Mr.. Cochran in refer
ring to the Irish race:
That race cannot be destroyed; it
is a nation (applause). ! If all the leg
islation, if all the fury of the past has
not sufficed to destroy it, this last
butchery, which called forth such a
meeting as this, which, doubtless, will
be paralleled in every great city of the
world, can't destroy it.
We can insist on it's recognition
Now, who can be injured by that?
Not human being in all the world
Everybody must be benefited by it.
We have seen what the Irish have
done already. Ladies and gentlemen,
the existence of these men-and their
butchery has made their existence
known to all the world-the charac-
ters which their butchers concede to
them have drawn attention to stu.
pendous fact in recent Irish existence,
and that is the reawakening of the
Irish conscience, the reawakening of
Irish life, embodied in such men, such
patriots, such scholars, in such single
minded lovers of the human race.
have said that not in all the world
could they be paralleled. There might
be men as able in writing, there might
be scholars as ripe, there might be
poets as inspired, there might be
artists with equal genius, but nowhere
in the world could men of these
qualities be found who would not be
employing in some degree the talents
with which God had blessed them, for
their own benefit. Here alone we find
these sixteen men who have never
thought of themselves! And they are
not, these sixteen do not stand alone:
they were the flower of young Ire
land, but they were also its repre-.
sentatives.
| The Precedent Of Cuba.
Continuing Mr.. Cochran said:
remember almost just twenty
years ago, at a meeting in Chickering
hall in commemoration of the Cuban
students that had been butchered in
that island before, had the privilege
of making the first speech in this
country urging Intervention on behalf
of Cuba. These men were dead.
They had been dead for over decade.
From out their graves voice spoke
which, thank God, 1 was the humble
instrument of voicing on that plat.
form, and, inside of two years, the
power of Spain was shattered, and a
new nation had been admitted to the
rights of freedom, and America had
added new and glorious page to the
history of her achievements for the
human family.
All that have died for the cause
they protested have insured its
triumph. These men can't be under
stood by the sordid politician who can
only count upon the profits of office
and the chances of holding it. The
men who would sacrifice truth for a
salary can't comprehend the sublime
creature who would give life for a
principle. These men-two or three
men, we find-they are becoming
ashamed of criticizing with their laws
men who have written devotion to a
principle in their blood. And they
say their sacrifice was useless and
their movement fruitless. Their
mouths should be closed, or, rather
refuted by the gaping mouths Of the
wounds through which these martyrs
were glorified.