The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1918-06-22
LABOR MISSIONS
VISIT TO DUBLIN
Continued from Page ~

$50 I will ask you," she concluded,
amid applause, "to drink with me to
the health and peace of the Gem of
the Ocean. May the grace of God be
about Ireland
w. H. Johnston, National President,
Merchants Union, U. S. A., seconded
the toast. 1t was not his good fortune
to claim his ancestry as from Ireland;
but that did not limit his affection in
the least degree for the people of
that great country. When passing
through Ireland he had been happily
surprised by the wonderful fertility of
the soil and the beauty of the country.
AS to Americas entry into the war, he
said there We're many reasons why
they should have considered the Ques-
ton long and we'll; but having once
made up their minds, they wanted to
assure the people of Ireland and their
x-Allies generally that they were deter
mined to crush the spirit that had
brought so much sorrow to the people
of the earth.
Responding, the Lord Chief Justice
said none of them who had read the
soul-inspiring speeches and messages
of President Wilson could fail for a
moment to recognize that he was
speaking with the voice of a man who
was conscious that he had behind him
a united country and a people who
were determined that they should
crush this attempt on the part of an
arrogant and military despotism to
roll back the tide Of progress, liberty,
and civilization. Nothing was more
hope and confidence than the llnoWl-
\edge that today there were fighting
side by side with them many citizen
soldiers of that great Republic of the
West, who were but an earnest of the
unlimited resources which would yet
be placed at their disposal, and which
he believed would, with Gods help, be
the determining factor in this great
struggle between the powers of dark
ness and the champions of liberty and
right These days and the days to
come would decide for all time for
good or evil the fate and fortunes of
the nations of the world.
Unhappily, Ireland was just now dis
tracted and divided. The sky was
dark with heavy and lowering clouds
of danger and suspicion, which had for
a time obscured the vision of peace
and reconcilement which some few
months since seemed so near to many
of them and for which many of them
so eagerly waited and so earnestly
labored. But for himself he did not
despair, nor had he abandoned the be-
lief that the common sufferings and
sacrifice of heroism and the lives of
~tne many gallant Irishmen who had
fallen together in this great war would
bear the fruit of peace and prosperity
for Ireland. The situation was criti-
cal. One thing alone could save it,
and that was the cooperation of every
sane and patriotic man in the final
appeal to the young manhood of their
race to take their part in this strug-
gle, and to fill the place of the thou
sands of the gallant Irishmen who had
fallen by the way in defense of free
dom and the liberty of their own coun-
try. He believed if they made the re-
Spouse to this final appeal they would
succeed in vindicating the fair name
of Ireland before the world.
Irish-Americans.
M. F. Ryan, proposing the health Of
Lord Decies, said that naturally the
Irishmen of America were taking q
leading part in the war, the same as
Irishmen in America took leading
Apart in all great movements Of Amer
,ica. There was nothing in America
in which the 1rishman did not play his
part. No doubt the Irish people in
ireland had reasons of their own at the
present moment which he was not in
q position to discuss. There was
one thing an 1rishman was never &C.
cused of, that he was afraid to fight
in this or any other country. He was
in hopes that the troublesome times
that were now confronting the country
that all Irishmen and Irish.Americans
loved so well might be amicably ad.
justed to the entire satisfaction of the
Irish people; and he thought that it
would be great source of comfort to
the American people when that day ar
rived.
Lord Decies, in the course of his