A MAGNIFICENT MEETING.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 457, 13 January 1882, Page 9

A MAGNIFICENT MEETING.

We (Nation) take tbe following account of the splendid reception given to Mr. T. P. O'Connor in Boston from the Boston Ilerald of the 'Bth October :—: —

Thomas P. O'Connor, now on a tour of agitation in New England has no reason to find fault with the warmth and genuineness of the i welcome which has been extended to him in Boston. No foreigner, however eminent, can treasure in his memory a more cordial reception in an American city than the one accorded in the Music Hall, last evening, to the distinguished " member for Galway. " The outpour- I ing of hospitable feeling aud sympathy overleaped all measures of t restraint. If Mr Gladstone could hare been present in disguise, he ' would have received a never-to-be-forgotten impression of the earnest- | ness and enthusiasm which the Irishmen in America manifest over his latest attempt to crush the cause which the Celtic race has been fighting for and defending for centuries. Accompanying Mr. O" Con- ' nor is Dr. Dillon Egan. who was formerly an Episcopal minister, but ( is now a member of the Catholic Church, and a co-labourer with the j member of Parliament in presenting the grievances of Ireland to the ' American people, and seeking substantial aid in behalf of their relief, i If the common report be true, that Music Hall affords seating accommodation for 4,000 people, there mist have been upwards of 5,000 present tht-re last ev< ning. Though the exercises did not commence j until eight o'clock, the audience commenced to arrive two hours ear- j Her, and by seven o'clock every unreserved seat in tbe house was ' occupied, and the passage-ways in all directions were crowded. Quar- i ter of an hour before the meeting opened the hall had become so i densely packed that further admissions were denied, and it is believed that half ns many were turned away as there were admitted. A most elaborate and entertaining programme had been provided, involving ' beside the address of the evening, a series of vocal selections by a J choir of upward of two hundred voices and there were sandwiched ' here and there performances on tbe organ, and an appropriate and impressive recitation by Miss Mary E. Doyle, all of wnich were very j heartily and fittingly applauded. At about eight o'clock there was a movement which indicated that the attractions of the evening were about to make their appearance. For a moment all the chatterings of the assembled multitude were hushed, and their optics were fixed , upon the platform. Presently the exp cted orators and others made themselves visible. To say that the applause was deafening is but a ' feeble description of the scene and uproar when Mr. O'Connor and i Dr. Egan were recognised. Of the local celebrities who formed the ' procession and occupied seats on the platform were Mayor Prince, , who presided with grace and dignity, and also Alderman O'Brien, Caldwell, and Haldtman, and President Collins of the \meiican Land league, who had accompanied Metsrs. O'Connor and Egan from New York, Mr. O'Connor, the chief ambassador, is a man of magnificent physique, jmt turned his thirtieth year, an impassioned sjvaker, , with a Blight tinge of " the brogue, " and evidently the possessor of an invincible determination. He at once impresses an audience with the fact that he is heart and soul in the movement in wh eh he is so conspicuously engaged. Dr Egan, though seemingly bound up in the movement, is more of a dramatist on the platform. He is very dressy and nobby, wears a fall beard of jetty black, and is exceedingly graceful, witty, and polished in his manners before an audience, One of the noticeable features of the occasion was the large attendance of the Catholic clergy. Among those on the platform were Fathers O'Connor and Quin of Boston College, Fathers Scanlan and Byrne of the Bunkers Hill district, Fathers Kremmer of South-bridge, Flatley of Canton, John O'Brien of Cambridge, Buckley and Byrne of New Haven, and Mr. Cabe of Australia. The presence of Wendell Phillips on the platform was the signal for hearty cheering. Before he came out of the ante-room he was made the recipient of a handsome boquet j by a prominent lady sympathiser with the cause of Ireland, the donor accompanying the floral gift with an address in the native. tongue of the Emerald Isle. While the speakers and invited guests were seating themselves there was round after round of cheers, which were repeated with unabated force on every possible occasion until the meeting was ended. The scene was lively and aspiring in the extreme from beginning to end. It was what might be described as a vast ocean of aroused and enthusiastic humanity. The feeling ran high all through the meeting — from eight o'clock until after eleven— and it was all in one general direction. Not a single disturbing element was apparent, except tbe applause which interrupted the speakers when tbey made their most telling points. The meeting was called to order shortly after eight o'clock by his honour Mayor Prince, who was received with applause loud and long continued, and rounds of cheers. When these greetings at length subsided his honour spoke as follows: — Fellow-citizens — We have come here to-night to express our sympathy, and I trust it will be strongly expressed, for a cause which must find advocates wherever there is love for truth, justice, and liberty (applause), and wherever there is detestation of wrong, cruelty and oppression (applause). We have with us a distinguished visitor from the old country, Hon. Thomas P. O'Connor (cheers and applause), who will speak to you of this cause, and I assure him that this large assemblage but slightly represents the vast number of the friends of Ireland to be found in this country (applause). I assure him also that if. in the transports of an honest indignation, he uses words which power in the old country don't like to hear, no soldiery will trouble him here (applause). The interesting event whose centennial anniversary we are about to celebrate at York-town has secured to us this privilege of free speech, and the right to call things by their true names (applause). The pages of history show a great many strange and inexplicable things, but none, I think more strange and inexplicable than the constant unwise, impolitic, unjust, and cruel misgovernment of Ireland during so many centuries. We pardon something to power for wrongs committed in barbaric times ; but why at the close of the nineteenth century, in an age which boasts so much philanthropy and charity, and so much Christian sympathy for whatever affects tbe interests of humanity— in an age so full of

the democratic spirit, with such jnst conceptions of tbe relations ' of the people to government, and such general recognition of their political rights — Ireland should continue to be ao badly treated, is a problem more difficult of solution then the riddle of the sphinx. Th« illustrious statesmen who have made the power of Britain so great •• to permit the proud boast that the sun never sita on her dominion* lose all their political capacity and skill when they touch the Irish question. Experience seems to teach them nothing. Mr Gladstone (hisses), great as his admiring friends claim him to be, is no wiser than the rest in this matter, and yet it would seem that all would know that no administrative policy which substitutes temporary expedients for fundamental correction and narrow makeshifts for radical reform resting on the solid foundations of political right, can justly claim the name of statesmanship. It is not statesmanship to fill Ireland with soldiers and imprison her patriots. Superior force may, perhaps, give peace for the time, but, when the force is withdrawn civil discord returns because the cause of it continues. Mr. Gladstone (more hisses) may know a great many things. He may think Mr. Jefferson Davis a hero, to be ranted with the foandeis of nations— a« may think the establishment of a government with slavery for iU corner stone a grand expression of the civilisation of the age — but ha does not know how to govern Ireland, (cheers). President Linoln would have told him that cancers are not cured by a poultice, and that great is the power of justice and humanity. But you are here not to listen to me, and I will introduce you to one whom I know you will cordially welcome to Boston, Hon. Thomas P. O'Connor. Mr. T. P. O'Connor, M. P., then delivered an able and eloquent speech on the political situation in Ireland. At the conclusion of Mr. O'Connor's speech the mayor introduced Mr. Wendell Phillip*, who spoke as follows :—: — Fellow-citizens — I remember a similar gathering under this roof, when we came together to welcome Dillon and Parnell to their labour* on this side of the water. Mr. Parnell has an imperative eu^gement which keeps him from being with ns (applause and laughter), bat wo give the same welcome to these gentlemen, and we hope that a* they go West they will find, as he did, that the wave an 1 the heart of their welcome trrow stronger and heartier every mile they travel toward the setting sun (applause). Our friend said he was not surprised at the recent action of the administration ia England. Well, we at a distance are like the old listener to college debates in Latin. He wu at a distance because he didn't understand the language, and we are 3,000 miles off. When someone asked of him what use was his attendance and how he judged the debate, he said — " I have no trouble ; I watch the two men keenly, and the man who gets mad first has no argument " (applause). We all remember that twenty years ago, under this roof, the men who conld not be answered were mobbed. So I think that in England to-day the men who cannot be answered are put in jail (cheers). If Mr. Gladstone could have answered Parnell, he would have appealed to argument, civilisation, and intellect to right him. He felt himself weak in argument and appealed to j force. Now, as I told you on that occasion, you cannot shoot an idea. Neither can you imprison an idea. The moment the man who represents it is within four walls, every human 0 , eye every enlightene I heart, every glorious aspiration, centres upon him, and he becomes the pivot of the intellectual and moral mivement of the age (applause). Thank God that Gladstone arrested Parnell. He lifted him from being head of the Land League to being the head of the great moral and humane movement of the age (applause). But it was no surprise to me that Mr Gladstone committed the final blunder of arresting his great antagonist. You have reminded us, sir, that in that great struggle when freedom hung in the critical balance in these forty States, the voice that came fiom the great leader of the Liberal party was an amen to Jefferson Davis, who tried to turn this free republic into a slave-holding despotism (applause). What wonder that the same man to-day should do his utmost to perpetuate slavery among the peasants of Ireland ? I don't believe there is a drop of Liberal blood in all of Mr. Gladstone's body (applause). From tbe crown of his head to the sole of his foot ther» isn't a drop of blood that looks forward— not one; every one look* backward (applause). In his youth he was a firm and unyielding Tory ; and the Jews have a proverb, " Don't trust a convert even to the third generation " (applause). The Jews might quote Mr. Gladstone as sufficient proof of the truth of their ancient proverb. He thinks he is going to subdue Ireland. Well, men the latchet of whose shoes he is not worthy to unloose have tried that job 400 years and failed (applause). Cicero said to a Roman bully, " I have laughed at Cataline's sword ; what do I care for yours? " So Ireland may aay to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, " Com well could not conquer me nor William the Third, and I forced Wellington for the third time in. his life to surrender ; what care I for this windy Tory in a weak skiff ? " (applause). Mr. Gladstone sees daily, as our friend said, 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 of men and women, heartbroken and poverty-stricken, on the soil of Ireland. He may cover it with troops, from Belfast to Cork and from Dublin to Connaught, but he hasn't reached Ireland a* she lives in these patriotic breasts ; he has not reached the 10,000,000 burning hearts who have never forgotten their native land. Besides, the civilisation of the age is fighting for Ireland. The Illinois farmer can put down a quarter cf wheat in the market of Liverpool 20 shillings cheaper than the English farmer can do it ; and that takes tha rivet out of the landed aristocracy of Great Britian (applause). The fiery cross of land reform lightens the hill tops of Scotland ; the water* are flooding the world. What is one man, what is one administration, against the spirit of the age ? Why, this serene and beautiful Bpirit laughs at a race or a great name when it sets itself in opposition to the great movement of civilization. Do you remember, in that old legend of the Northern mythology, where a giant undertakes to drink up what seems a tiny stream 1 But as he proceeds in his task ha finds the stream connects with the great ocean, and he ia trying the vain and superfluous task of drinking up the ocean. Now Mr. Gladstone sees only 6,000,000 Irishmen ; he doesn't see the great spirit of humanity, the civilization of the age behind her ; and he might as well try to drink the ocean as to attempt to conquer the living spirit which for four hundred years— nay, for seven hundred — has asserted

itself (applause). He is engaged in a task which, considering the race, is impossible. You may weigh it against what gallant and persistent race you please ; you may take Poland, the most gallant people in Europe, that flung the Turk back into Canstauti pole and saved the Cross from the Crescent ; and yet Poland is a name trodden out within the limits of two hundred years of Russian opp ession. For seven hundred years depopulated, starved, trodden under foot, Ireland, with the cross of her faith in one hand and the emblem of her nationality in the other has defied the mo^t obstinate and most triumphant kingdom on the facr of the earth (applause), and she stands to-day the pivot of British politics, on which turn and by which are judged the great civil questions of ihe leader of the English race. And yet this boaster undei takes to do what for seven hundred years Englishmen have tried tj do and failed (applause). Oh no, oh no, Mr. Chancellor, you may thrust starving women and dying men out of their homes ; you may stamp out everything that is happy in Ireland — yes, perhaps for a moment you may eren stamp out resistance — but liberty knows nothing but victory (applause). Looking out on the present and judging by the past, Ireland will Btand happy and prosperous when Gladstone's name will rot within those of Weterburne, Lord Eldon, and Lord North (prolonged applause). The mayor then read a telegram from Mr. James Redpath, in which he said, " Boycott all British goods at once. Force your congressional representatives to increase the tariff on all British goods, and to vote millions, if necessary, to subsidise American lines of steamers, and thus drive British manufactures from our market and British shipping from our ports. This is a war to the knife on their part. Let it be a war to the death on ours."

Dr. Dillon Egan then addressed the meeting, and a musical programme was gone through in the interval between the speeches. X,. The Boston Herald, referring editorially to the reception given to Mr. O'Connor, says :—: — The reception given last night to Mr. T. P. O'Connor was, as might have been expected, a conspicuous success. The weather, no doubt, was unfavourable, but it takes more than a sprinkle of rain to chill the warmth of an Irish welcome. Our fellow-citizens who owe their birth or have drawn their descent from the Green Isle turned out in their thousands, and crowded the Mu9ic Hall to its utmost capacity. Seats, aisles, and passages were overfilled. So great was the crush that long before the opening of the meeting the managers, sorely against their will, felt obliged to stop the sale of tickets at the door. The enthusiasm, like the attendance, ran beyond the bounds. We do not mean that it passed the limits of order. Far otherwise. But the assemblage was pre-eminently marked by its impassioned earnestness. There was a fervour, a spirit, a never failing receptivity that met and rose to the slightest point pressed by the speakers. The Celtic flint gave fire at every stroke. Under these conditions the orators of the evening had an easy task. But we do them no more than justice in saying that they could well have dispensed with the impressibility of the audience. When such speakers as Mr. O'Connor, Dr. Dillon Egan, Mr. Wendell Phillips, and Mayor Prince are called to dilate upon the wrongs of Ireland, a subject at once dear to their hearts and familar to their tongues, the effectiveness of the effort needs no indorsement at our hands. Our opinion of the meeting, of the orators, and the audience may find expression in a single sentence. Emphatically, and at all points, the reception was a splendid success.