The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-04-05
Irish Republican Cause
 Brought To Bridgeport By Official Representatives
Hon. Austin Stack and J. J. O'Kelley Address Large Audience at Casno-Sinn Fen Vice President and Irish Attorney Also Pleaded Re pub1ic's Cause

[ and 24. They it was who armed | themselves at the expense of the BriL- lsh Tommy Give the. British military | their due, whenever the British Tom my was told to put up his hands, he did it.
 men who attained a certain position would get a voice in the question whether that position was to be evacuated.
 No Vote For Soldiers. Let me tell you no young man under 24 years of age will have a vote | in the coming election. There has | been no register of the voting list in the last three years. The young men 21 are not on the register. If there is any register at all in existence, it doesn't contain the name of any man under 24, and that includes most of the active army who met the Black and Fans.
 Neither have the young women of Ireland a. vote. That is crying shame. They spied for the army, car fired off some of the ammunition. 1 English law doesn't allow a woman a vote until she is 30. That means 1 there is no woman on the register under 34.
 ! These women and the young men number something like 100000, and if an election is held without them, | the carrying of the treaty will cause
 
 -'HT'his election has to be met and fought. I hope and believe it will be won. It is the only way in which fur ther trouble can be avoided. There are hundred thousand young Irishnlen ready to die rather than go within the threshold of the British empire. When the treaty was approv- ed by a small majority last January, only the advice of President De Valera kept some of the best officers in the army. He told them to keep the army intact, that it would be needed to fight not any men in Ireland. but the forces of England again. All Fiction, He Says. T hope no blows will be struck be- tween Ireland and ask you to re- qutre very full proof before you be- l lteve what you see in the press of such happ enings: I believe these stories of conflicts between Free State troops are all fiction. Every effort is being mads on both sides to prevent any have too much respect for the past deeds of one another to fire upon one another when tI1e- know that Ireland has only one real enemy, and that is England.
 T am firmly convinced that the army has no intention of allowing the Free State to come into existence. I would rather that the proposed was beaten by what s called constituti onaI means than any ot11er. We propose to fight this election and defeat the treaty at the polls. That is the only way the treaty can be beaten without can be kept out of the British empire without having recourse to violent methods.
 of the Straight Road.
 'T do not agree that the acceptance of this treaty is stepping stone to a republic It means going off the straight road we have travelled since 1916. Tho Irish naticn has established o es441 nir jrl+E the British empire would mean break ing the oath of allegiance to the re- public and taking the oath of allegi- ance to the English king. Both things are sinful: The road we would follow would be an impure and unclean road paved with perjury. That is not the road for the Irish people, + P: J: Kelley pointed out the ex- pense of conducting a campaign in Ireland, estimating the cost for each seat at one thousand pounds for exs penses plus one hundred and fifty each candidate and appealed for con- tributions. The following pledges were given: One hundred dollars, MacSwiney Council; s25, T. J. Ken nedy; $1o' Mrs: Connors. John McCar- O'Brien, J. F. Linehan, MISS Sexton, J.. J. sullivan; $5. Michael O'Brien, Mrs wade, J. J. Swift, Miss Margaret Cullen, Thomas Clark, Mrs. P. Bar rett, William Gilmartin, Mrs. Herman Rowe. Mrs. John McGovern. MT. and Clarence Gaffney, Miss Reddy. Ed ward Meehan, Bernard Coffey. Miss Nora Mccarthy, William McCarthy, Mrs. Henry Holhnson and Miss Della Finn. In addition a substantial col lection was taken up.
 It is an Imitation.
 M n'ET1S f1a nn- c1uding speaker, said:
 l. +'The defect of the instrument of fered to the Irish people is that it like a republic. but it is like the declaration of American independ- ence that all men are born with equal natural rights and that the authority of government springs from the peo- pie left out. It Is argued that if it is good enough for Canada it is good enough for the United States. Would Canada as good enough for you? Nothing that Is not good enough for the United States IS good enough for Ireland.
 ''The whole thing is founded on a lie. They want the Irish nation to pretend it is a colony of England. Stack and O'Kelly are here on the same mission that brought Benjamin Franklin twice to Ireland, to get the people of one country to understand what the other is fighting for. There were about 10000 1rishmen in the American revolutionary army and I am afraid America would never have been independent without them. and the predoninance of typtcally South ern and Western Irish names like Kelly and others explodes the theory that that they were predominantly Northern Ireland.
 Peace From Erin.
 "The Catholic Transcript'-tran- script means copy, you know-tran- scribed an article from the New York Times telling how Ireland would have had peace in 1920 only for a certain telegram I sent to Lloyd George. They represent that telegram as being an appeal for peace from Ireland. They don't reproduce the telegram. Here are the words: You state you are willing to make peace before Christ mas. Ireland Is also willing. What first step do you propose?' That is not an appeal for peace. He made the appeal and I made answer pub ncly. At that time there were secret negotiations going on through sthe