The Irish standard., 1919-09-27


This was the exclamation of the elo-
quent and scholarly Bourke Cochran,
In his address at the hearing of the
Foreign Relations Committee of the
United States Senate, Aug. 80, of this
year; and his bold and courageous pro-
nouncement Is but reiteration of
the voice and purpose of the Irish peo-
pie that has been expressed in it's
every generation since the first occu-
patton of Erin by the English in the
closing years of the twelfth century,
The American Senate has provided an
opportunity for those peoples and ma
tionalities that were barred from the
conferences of the powers at Versail-
les to present their grievances and de-
mands In the purer and clearer light
of American environment. And the
representatives of Mother Erin in
America did not fail to take advan-
tage of the kindly proposal. Edward
F. Dunno, former governor of Illinois,
Frank P. Walsh, former chairman of
the industrial relations committee, and
Michael j. Ryan, former solicitor of
Philadelphia, the three delegates Sc
lected at the Race Convention of Feb
ruary last in Philadelphia, to cross
the Atlantic in the interests of Ire
land at the Peace Conference, all were
on hand to plead the cause as COM
mitted to them. In addition to these
and to Mr.. Cochran, addresses were
made by John A. Murphy of Buffalo,
and that sterling Nestor of them ALL
Judge Daniel F. Cohalan of New York,
and many other men of distinction in
American public affairs; and speak
ing through the eloquent lips of
Bourke Cochran, Ireland spoke to the
same purpose and with the same set
determination, intensified to the nth
degree, by the modern development of
the principles of democracy, as she
spoke in the past through Parnell, Da-
witt, Duffy, O'Connell, Grattan, Wolf
Tone and the hundreds of other pa
triot leaders who have from genera
tion to generation of her history
voiced the undying national opposition
to alien British domination.
De Valera and Grifiths, leaders of
the Sim Fein movement, continue up
to the present, and will continue into
the future, the same fight for the ma
tural and just liberty of their country
that has never ceased for a single
generation since the the English King
Henry H. in the year 1892, without any
color of right or any warrant of cir
cumstances, using papal bull as a
pretext, took possession of the fair
green isle, at time when internal
dissensions created the opportunity for
alien control and spoliation. Thus
British occupation had its roots in
brute force, and it's fruits have ever
borne evidence of the corrupt source
of their origin.
Judgment Of America Sought for Erin.
Happily the trend of world events
seems to indicate that America is now
to sit as court of appeal to hear and
determine the issues of the conflict
that has been going on for more than
seven hundred years between indomi-
table Erin and the mighty British EN-
pire.
BY force of circumstances following
the Armageddon, this great Republic
finds upon her lap" many unfore-
seen burdens, the disposition of which
involves great embarrassment and ex-
acting patience. The proposed League
of Nations pact bids fair to prove a
veritable Pandora's box of troubles,
some in their incipiency, but most of
them in a stage of full-aedged develop
ment, that is sure to require the ut.
most skill and profound genius of
deed, we do not peremptorily reject
the transatlantic package and return
it unopened to the senders.
Assuming, however, that evidence in
the case must be heard in America in
order that judgment may be intelli-
gently and fairly reached in the mat
ter, whether in favor of or in rejec-
tion of the League pact, it becomes in
cumbent upon all friends of Ireland to
see to 1t that her cause shall be ade-
quately and thoroughly presented be-
fore the tribunal of American public
opinion. We shall endeavor, therefore,
in this summary of the Irish cause to