The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-10-13
Orange and Green
Father o'Flanagan's Striking Address
at omagh, Co. Tyrone-Some Out
spoken Sentiments About the
Clericals in Politics
No Coercion for
Ulster.

/
No Coercion for
Ulster.
The spirited address of Father
OFlanagan delivered at Omagh, Co.
Tyrone, has attracted general atten-
ton throughout Ireland for it's force
full and bold handling of many of the
political problems now engaging gen
| eral attention. Some of the most strik
! ing passages are given below.
The lecture was entitled, Orange
and Green" and Father O'Flanagan, by
| way Of preface, said he was bound to
acknowledge that there was a great
deal in the Ulster question of which
he was entirely ignorant, and there
fore he felt it was great presump-
| tion on his part to talk to an audience
of men who when they were in their
teens, and who before they came into
their teens, discussed the Ulster ques-
tion not merely with the tongue, but
perhaps with the knuckles. Proceed
ing, he referred to the many efforts
that had been made to solve the Irish
difficulty. One of these was the Bal
four method, but it failed. The As
quith method was the Home Rule Bill
on the statute book, plus wait and
see," but this was killed by the rebel.
lion of 1916. If this Home Rule Bill
for all Ireland was but sorry attempt
to settle the Irish question, how much
worse was similar Home Bule Bill
for part of Ireland? And so new
attempt was made which he might call
the Redmond. Carson method. It was
pretty evident that the Redmond-Car-
son method had been the most sorry
method of all. There was one other
method which had also been attempt
ed, and that he might call the concilia-
ton method-the William O'Brien
method. Put good coat of sugar on
pill" remarked the speaker amidst
laughter, "give it to an Orangeman
and he will swallow it. Give him soft
talk, clap him on the back, and he'll
be all right" That method had been
tried for the last twenty years, but
the Orangeman was too wary an old
bird to be caught by chaff.
Nov, is there any other method we
could try on the Orangeman?" contin-
ued Father O'Flanagan. II confess
don't like the word coercion, whether
it be applied to Ireland or in Belgium
or in any other part Of the world.
Forty millions of people have tried to
solve the Irish question by coercion
for the last 100 years; forty millions
of people have tried to coerce four
millions and they have failed. The
relative proportion of the forces was
ten to one-and the ten failed to CO.
cree the one-so, also, I believe that
II three millions tried to coerce one
million they would fail too. Therefore
l can see no hope of solution in CO.
ercion. You might try to get along
for time, as England under the
Union struggled to get along, but in
the end, if the basis was coercion, it
would fail; and for one hope to God
that it would. (Applause.)
One Method Bound to Succeed.
1T seems to me pretty clear that
there is one other method that is
/ UOuuu W SuCCOOuS dAu eAot 40 SA0
method that is typified in the flag
Orange and Green, with the White
for peace between. cloud applause.)
The men who devised the Sim Fein
flag at once thought of putting the
Orange color into the flag because they
believed the Orange color stood for
something which made it worthy OF
being put into the flag. (Hear, hear.)
It was not put into the Irish flag as a
sop to the Orangemen; it was not the
sugar-coat of the Home Rull pill-but
it was a recognition that hidden be-
meath the ugly husk of Orangeism
there is kernel, a previous kernel,
that Ireland needs in her future de-
velopment; and when we put the
Orange and Green side by side, and
when we salute the Irish flag, we honor
the Orange and Green both equally"
i (Applause.)
Orangeism and the Church..
LET us try and find out what there
is in the Orange color that makes for
a democratic National movement. !
take it that the Orange color is main
ly protest against the domination of
the Church in civil affairs. In other
words, it is a protest against the sys-
tenn that was in vogue all down
through the Middle Ages, and which
was probably the best system in those
times, but which l think is not the
best system at present. In those days
Church and State were united. 1t was
a common thing in the old times to
have the Cardinal Prime Minister,
so that he was head Of the Church