The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-10-26
TEST OF LOYALTY IS WILLINGNESS
 TO SACRIFICE
Rev. Michael J. Hogan, $. J. Points Lesson of Life of MacSwiney at Meeting Last Night.

ing in honor of Terence MacSwiney at Varuna hall last night under the auspices of E. han Allen Council, A. A. R. I. R., said that the lesson to be drawn from MacSwtney's life was the same that Abraham Lincoln drew at Gettysburg when he sadd: It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we may take increased devotion for that cause for which they gave the last i here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain"
 After protesting against the neglect of Michael Fitzgerald and Joseph Murphy, who made the same sacri- flee as MacSwiney, Fr. Hogan said: i Are you ready, my friends. to make the thousands of other martyrs to the Irish cause shall not have died in vain? There is not one among you who cannot be a lever of immense | land so that one day and That soon the liberty and independence of Ire land will be proclaimed to the world. and Macswiney and F1tzgerald and Murphy shall not have died in vain.''
 '@The Irish organizations in this country and even in Ireland Fr. Ho- than a crime in neglecting ile glo- rious memory of Michael Fitzgerald and Joseph Murphy. Their frames withered just as surely and just as did yhe frame of Lord Mayor Mac Swiney. All honor to him, but all honor to them too: They were heroes among heroes. They were just
 free as MacSwiney was to accept com 1 promise and compromise was offered
 them just as often: They spurned it as firmly as he had"
 After asking his audience to look | with him at the soul of MacSwiney, Father Hogan said MacSw1ney's soul
 could best be judged from his own i~Tr Al us examine his inaugural address as | Lord Mayor Cork. Remember at the, time he accepted that post 1t. was
 almost an assured guarantee that he
 would be assassinated as his prede- | cessor, Mayor MacCurtain had been.
 His acceptance tells us what he was.
 and his own words at his inaugural
 emphasize 1t. Listen to his own
 words, the words of the martyred Mayor himself at his inaugural: 'I came here,", he said. "more as a sol- dier stepping into the breach than as
 an administrator to fill my post in
 the municipality. Those whose faith ! is strong will endure to the end in
 triumph. The shining hope Of our | time is that the great majority of our | people are now strong in faith.
 i TO you, gentlemen of the minority here, I would address a word You l seem to be hypnotiZed by an evil ! thing, usurpat1on that calls itself gov
 ernment. To me 1t seems, and I do
 not say it to hurt you. that you have
 a lively faith in the powers of Satan. but little faith in the power of God. | God is over us. In His divine inter | vention we must have perfect trust. | Anyone surveying the events in Ire- | land during the past five years must
 see that it is approaching a miracle l how our country has been preserved | during @ persecution unexanlpled in
 history culminating in the murder of
 the head of our great city. God has | permitted us to tcy our spirit, to | worthy for 8 great and noble destiny. You
 among us who have no vision have
 been led away by false prophets,
 | ''I will give 8 recent example. Only
 last week in our city a judge acting | for English usurpation in Ireland
 and speaking in the presumptuous
 toned to do ventured to lecture us
 There is no beauty in liberty that
 comes to us dripping in innocent
 would shatter the foundations of
 Christianity by denying beauty to, | that spiritual liberty that comes to
 us dripping in the blood of Christ
 rif1ce on Calvary. delivered us from
 the domination of the evil one when
 the pail of evil was closing down and l darkening the world.
 1 !" The liberty for which we strive
 is a sacred thing inseparably entwined with that sacred liberty for which the Saviour of men died, and which is | the foundation of all just govern ment. Because it is sacred and death for it is akin. to the sacrifice of Cal vary, following far off but constant eration our best and bravest have died.
 | Sometimes in our grief we cry the foolish and minimizing words. | because they were our best and brav- est that they had to die. No less a sacrifice would save us. Because of 1t, our struggle Is holy, out battle is sanctif1ed by their blood. Our vic ! tory is assured by their martyrdom. | It is not we who take innocent blood, ample of our immortal head and that l Divine example that inspires us all Tor the example of our country.
 Facing our enemy we must de- in their regime thing of, evil incar- nate. With 1t there can be no barley, any more than there can be truce with the powers of hell. That is our sim pie resolution. We ask no mercy and we will accept no compromise. To the Divine Author of mercy we our battle whatever the persecution that we may bring our people, to vic- tory in the end. The civilized world dare not look on indifferent while in our country, or they will see un- dermine i the pillars of their own gov- ernmellts, and the world involved in unimaginable clamor. But if the rulers of earth fail us, still have refuge in the Ruler of Heaven, and though to some the judgments of God seem slow, they never fail and when they fall, they fall with awful des- tiny'.'
 Those were the words" Fr. Hogan continued, "of MacSwiney, every word breathing his readiness for any sacri- flee, if only that life of his could do something for the liberty of his op- pressed country. You have not been called upon to offer up your lives, but all of you can offer something. If you have learned the lesson of Mac FSwiney's life and death you will not falter, you will resolve highly to leave the cause of Irish liberty" Mrs. J. H. North, president of Ethan Allen Council, presided at the firarr d< ,.-