IRISH ITEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1858, 1 July 1887, Page 14

IRISH ITEMS.

Fathers Keeler, Ryan, and flattery were released from Kilmainham prison, in Dublin, on May 21, the Court of Appeal having decided that the arrest of the priests for refusing testimony was illegal. A memorial on the Irish question prepared by the Irish College at Rome, and published on May 18, is entitled " Ireland as it is." It explains the Parnell policy, and apologises for the attitude of the Irish episcopacy. Referring especially to Archbishop Walsh, the memorial is rather firm and uncompromising in tone, but not revolutionary. It is supposed Monsignor Kirby, rector of the college, consulted with the Vatican before issuing the document. A later despatch doubts the issuance of this memorial.

The powerful Clan-na-Gael Secret Society in the United States to advance the Irish cause has become broken up, the secretary having "skipped" with 4000dol of the funds. The fight among the members has become so bitter that several are accused of selling secrets to the British Government and supplying information to the London Times. The society is now split up into two factions. MB o'bßlßN's MISSION.

Mr O'Brien, the editor of the Dublin United Irishman, arrived in New York on May 10, on his way to Canada, on a crusade against Lord Lansdowne, Governor-general, in retaliation for the eviction by the latter of the tenants on his estates in Ireland. He was received with open hands in New York by Irish-American Home Rulers of that city, and while there spoke freely of what he intended to do in the way of making public opinion against Lord Lansdowne by lecturing among the Canadians. By many levelheaded Irishmen as well as Americans O'Brien's enterprise is regarded as quixotic. He reached Montreal on the 11th, and was received at Quebec by a delegation of the National Legue from the former city. He spoke to 2000 people in the evening, his speech being devoted to a narration of the circumstances attending evictions on Lord Lansdowne's estate at Luggacurran, Ireland. His hearers indulged in the wildest demonstrations. O'Brien is of opinion that a public feeling against' Governorgeneral Lansdowne may be created in Canada which will be beneficial to his Irish tenants. O'Brien's speech in Quebec on the 12th was in the same strain as that at Montreal, with an invitation to Lord Lansdowne to defend himself through the newspapers if the charges made against him were unfounded. The Montreal Herald criticised O'Brien's position and action, the official status of the party attacked preventing him from defending himself. , The City Council of Toronto refused to rent O'Brien any public hall in that place, and Mayor Howland replied to his telegram of application by one dissuading him from coming, as his object was to attack a representative of her Majesty on personal grounds. As to the truth of O'Brien's statements, the Mayor said the Toronto people neither cared nor should they be called on to judge. The business of the council was to prevent a possible riot, and they proposed to attend to it. The Globe, on Lord Lansdowne's authority, announced on the 13th that the Governor-general wished Mr O'Brien to have full liberty of speech. A meeting, attended by nearly 12,000 people, was held in the Queen's Park, Toronto, on May 14, over which Mayor Howland presided, and several clergymen were present. Resolutions were passed strongly reprobating O'Brien's mission, and ex.-

pressing -.confidence in Lord Lansdowne, also looking with confidence to the British Parliament for a wise and meet settlement of the Irish question. Three cheers were given amidst the greatest enthusiasm and waving of hats for the Queen and Lord Lansdowne, and the vast multitude with uncovered heads joined in singing the National Anthem, after which they adjourned. Mayor Howland sent a copy of the resolutions to the Governor-general, who replied as follows : — " It has been a source of the deepest regret to me that those who have sought for political purposes to stir up strife between the tenants on part of my Irish estates should have been for a time successful. I desire sincerely that the differences which have thus arisen may not prove permanent, and* that the kind- relations which until recently existed between these tenants and, myself may ere long be completely restored." When O'Brien arrived at Toronto on the 18th, he was attacked by a mob, principally composed of Orangemen, and who used sticks and stones as missiles,shoutingallthe while "Kill the traitor!" The assailed lecturer was forced to take refuge in a laundry to save his life, and was conducted thence by the police to his hotel. The press commenting on this violence said it had succeeded in accomplishing what all the eloquence and public sympathy. In Ottawa the demonstration was mixed in character, but the preponderance of feeling was in favour of the speaker, and it was regarded as an answer to the Toronto attack. A prominent citizen, R. Wagle, made a deliberate statement from the platform ; — " We want annexation. We do not want any more pauperstricken landlords coming over here to disgrace us and shame themselves." A public meeting was called in Hamilton on the 21st to protest against O'Brien's visiting that place and to continning his attack on the Governor-general. On the evening of May 20 he reached Kingston— "the Kerry of Canada," as it is called, with its population of 15,000, of whom 5000 are Catholics, — and spoke at the skating rink. Calm was maintained for some time, but it was broken when Kilbride, Lansdowne's evicted tenant, commenced his statement. An immense crowd outside began to shout " God save the Queen" and to groan. O'Brien, when the meeting ended and when he came out on the street, was greeted by shouts of " There he is," "Drag him out here," " Kill him," " Choke him," " Tear him asunder " ; and amid showers of missiles the lecturer and his friends fled for their lives. The newspaper correspondents with him were badly hurt. The office of the Canadian Freeman, an Irish-Catholic organ, was wrecked. O'Brien found refuge in the house of a man named Peter Devlin. An examination showed him to be pretty well used up. A boulder had struck him on the back of the neck and felled him just in time to prevent a blow aimed at his head with a club taking effect. His throat was full of dust, his clothes bespattered with blood, and he was scarcely able to stand, but he managed to say some very bitter things to the mayor for his evident favouritism of the rioters. He left Kingston on May 21, amidst cheers from the Nationalists, on his way to Niagara Falls, visiting Syracuse and Rochester (New York) en route. When the party got on board the sleeping cars leaving Rochester and bound for the Falls, O'Brien fainted away on his bed from pure exhaustion. A physician told _ him he was suffering from internal injuries. His body was bruised and battered in several places, and a touch of inflammation of the lungs had appeared. O'Brien, however, insisted on leaving for Hamilton. He was met with a reception which threw into the shade everything that had occurred previously. A bodyguard welcomed him, and nothing took place until the meeting at 8 o'clock p.m. at the skating rink, where the Orangemen made a demonstration on the outside. When he left the rink, O'Brien was hustled into a' carriage with Messrs M'Mahan and Roche, of the local branch of the National League, and Dennis Kilbride. As the vehicle wheeled into Market square some eight i pistol shots were fired into it. Nobody, however, was hurt, except the driver Nelson, whose wrist was badly smashed. M'Mahon seized the reins, which dropped, and drove as rapidly as possible to the hotel. As the party stepped into the corridor a volley of eggs were hurled at O'Brien, but missed both himself and his friends. O'Brien returned to Niagara Falls on the 24th. Before he left Hamilton he received a letter from Syracuse, N.Y., to the following effect : — " East Syracuse, N.Y., May 18, 1887.— William O'Brien, — You olack-hearted Irish fool, if you ever make your appearance in Kingston or Ottawa your blood will run cold. Take my advice and go back to your black Irish home. — P.S. — I will be there in less than 48 hours." O'Brien was badly scared by this letter. The Hamilton Spectator asserts that shots were fired from O'Brien's carriage before the attacking party touched a trigger, a statement denounced by O'Brien as a falsehood. The Governorgeneral was entertained by the National Club at Toronto on May 21. He made a slight reference to O'Brien and his mission, saying it was an incident that' had not interfered with his convenience or happiness. On his return to Ottawa Lord Lansdowne had an exception^ ally warm reception, the whole city turning out to greet him. In his speech to the assembly he made a jocular allusion to O'Brien's mist-ion as a recent" invasion of Canada " — not numerically strong, but making up in intrepidity for lack of numbers. He said the only trouble was that the invaders had been completely misled by their intelligence department. At the conclusion of the address a crowd of young men took the horses from the carriage of the Governorgeneral, and themselves drew the vehicle to Government House, Rideau Hall. His partisans did the same thing for O'Brien at Montreal, where he was on the 27th, drawing the carriage of himself and colleagues to St. Lawrence Hall, from the balcony of which he made a speech . O'Brien got through with his Canadian tour on May 29, and returned to Boston. The London Times considers O' Brien's real object in his mission is to stir up IrishCanadian disaffection. The league's quarrel with Lansdowne is} because he gave very liberal remissions of rent to tenants in Kerry, one of i the poorest parts of Ireland, but declined to I treat in the same way people like Kilbride, paying a rental of £100 in Queen's County, one of the richest parts. O'Brien, according to a despatch of May 17, has been elected without opposition to a seat in the House of Commons for the north-east division of Cork. The seat was made vacant by the resignation of Edmund Leamy. The Irish tenants have been acting upon O'Brien's advice during his absence in Canada, and the'few evictions caused great expense and trouble to the authorities. The Nationalists of Limerick propose aa Irish boycott of the Canard line of steamers if it be proved that the Umbria's captain was implicated in the action of a mob that insulted Mr O'Brien on his late voyage from England to the United States.