The Irish standard., 1917-08-18


race is to lose it's cherished dream of
freedom. They look back over the
past and reflect with bitterness that
on the fields of Flanders, on the plains
Of France, on the hills Of Austria, the
young men of Ireland have laid down
their ives-but not for Ireland. They
ask in the silence of their own hearts,
Are we always to die and never to
gain the object of our devotion?
LET this Congress ask that Ireland,
too, shall be free-shall be as free as
Belgium, as Montenegro, as Serbia, as
as Poland, as Greece. Then
will change come over the face of
this war. A cheer will rise that will
be heard around the world, because it
will come from the lips of the Irish
race in every land where constitutional
justice holds it's place, and from the
lips of every people who wish to be
free.
ut is, however, not a question OF
conciliating the Irish race. The lives,
the fortunes, the honor Of that race
are pledged to America. But there !
are more powerful bonds of fealty |
than pledges. There are more bind
ing ties than those of birth, than oaths
of allegiance, than convictions Of the
justice of a cause. Touch the deep
emotions of race and that race will
feel a deathless pride in having been
given the opportunity of showing its
devotion to the cause to which the
country is pledged. (Applause.)
"Not only in the marts Of COM
MERGE, in the great cities, over the
wide plains of America will such a
declaration be hailed with delight, but
across the border into Canada, over
the bush of Australia, the veldts of
South Africa, on the hills and wales of
ireland, and in the mills and mines of
Great Britain herself will the glad
tidings go that the American Congress,
toward which the yearning gaze of
the Irish race is now turned, has
spoken the words of destiny, and that
Ireland shall be self-governing ma
ton. (Applause.)
"The action that this House is asked
to take has been taken by other Gov
ernments in other crises. It would be
possible to enumerate instances from
the records of other nations. But it is
worth while recalling at this time the
action of this Government in the case
of Texas in 1847, and Of the British
Government in the case of Greece in
1922. In both Of these cases the hand
of a powerful Government was ex-
tended to small nation struggling for
it's freedom.
another principle of craftsmanship
practiced since the earliest times is
that of concession to the prejudices of
it's own citizens. In applying this
principle Lincoln disarmed the preju-
dices of the army of Mcclellan by
assuring the men of that army that
the Civil War was not being waged
to impose negro domination upon the
southern people, but to save the
Union. Is it not worth while to as
sure the Irish race that this war is
being waged to establish freedom in
those countries that have been de-
prived of it.
every Government exists and -four
ishes through the sentiment Of it's peo-
pie. Those that seize power by force
of arms will not long maintain it be-
fore the advance of uncOnquerable
democracy. The exception to this rule
is the case of Ireland. In that coun-
try there are protests; there are i'm
mense meetings addressed by leading
public men; there are instructions
and bloodshed; there are arrests and
Imprisonment for defiant citizens
there are areas of martial law and all
it's consequent petty tyrannies-all in.
dicating that the cause for which
America is fighting is imperiled by the
oppression of a race whose sons at
this very hour are marshaled to
achieve the victory which shall result
in establishing the rights of small ma.
lions. (Applause.)
els it not a strange spectacular
embattled Irish race striving to break
the shackles Of every enslaved people
except those shackles which bind the
people of their cradle land to the
chariot of the conqueror?
1--WE declare that we are now repay
ing the debt of gratitude to France
for her aid in the Revolution. Is II
forgotten that the people Of Ireland
sent a message of good will and en-
couragement to the Continental Army
and that not alone was the army Of
Washington half Irish but that the
army of France in America at that
time was also half Irish? We waged
war for the freedom Of Cuba, and
we protect that small nation in its
right to freedom. For century we
have guaranteed the sovereignty Of
the South American Republics. Is II
to be recorded on the annals Of civil
ization-is it to be written in the rec
ord of this Nation-that small nations