THE LESSON SLIGO TAUGHT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 25, 19 October 1883, Page 5

THE LESSON SLIGO TAUGHT.

The country which has just struck so heavy a blow upon the crest of the unholy combination between the avowed enemies and the pseudo friends of Ireland will in vain have given Mr. O'Hara and his parly the covp de grace if the only result be the return to Parliament of one additional member of Mr. Parnell's gallant little band. The victory was a glorious one. Following on the very heels of Mallow, Monaghau, and Wexford, it set the seal to the solemn compact between Ireland and her children, that compact by which it is agreed that no electoral battle shall remain uncontested— that no Irish seat shall be the guerdon of a walk-over for any Whig or Tory nominee, but that shoulder to shoulder our people shall contest every election, and use every lawful means to return to Parliament a party of Irishmen numerically and morally strong enough to show the English Senate that Ireland is still a nation in feeling, and sway the English Senate so that Ireland may in our own time be a nation in fact. Sligo and Mr. Lynch have contributed this much to the treasury of national example, and we congratulate and thank them both. But again wo, say that the example of Bligo must not end here. We are, and we blush to say it, in possession of facts relating to Irishmen in England, facts that render them unworthy to be the fellow-country-men of the Sligo patriots. Valuable as is the vote of a Nationalist in an Irish election, its worth dwindles into insignificance before that of an Irishman's vote in England or Scotland . What steps are being taken by Irishmen in the large towns of Great Britain to see that when a general election comes round they shall be in a position to punish those members of Parliament who since 1880 in the division lobby, in the Press, from the platform, and on their legs in the House of Commons have been ramming coercion, contumely, and contempt down the throat of Ireland ? There are National League branches in Great Britain. They meet weekly and discuss current politics and make speeches, and pa9S resolutions touching matters that affeot Ireland. Well and good. A.gainst this we have nothing to say. Bat most solemnly and earnestly do we say that making speeches and passing resolutions — however eloquent the one or justifiable the other — is at this present juncture a lamentable waste of time and force. Every branch of the National League in every town in the neighbouring island should be a little well-organised and energetic registration society for electoral purposes. Look after your votes, Irishmen who are resident in Great Britain, and leave your speeches to look after themselves. Irishmen in England do not labour under the difficulties that beset us here. They have household suffrage ; they have no House of Lords standing between them and fair registration. Let them, then, be up and doing. Let them keep Sligo and Monaghan before their eyes ; let them consider what the English " caucus " has effected by simple stress of organisation. Let them strive to occupy to the Libsrals and Tories the position which their leader and hia men occupy towards parties in the House of Commons, and if they do all this, the Ministry is not capable of being formed that can with impunity turn a deaf ear to the unanimous demand at the ballot-box of a United Ireland, and that not less united Ireland across the Channel. — Dublin Freeman,

It has always been remarked that when a man endeavours to es^^ise two difficult or laborious callings, both of them must suffer, at^^pien be generally does not get on well with either. Here the law of distribution of labour in modem life applies. Now, the Irish fisherman of the west coast endeavours to be a farmer and a fisherman at the same time. The sea is too rough for him to venture far upon it with his small craft, and the soil is too wet and barren for him to get much out of it, except by very hard labour. Just when the weather is favourable for farming it is also favorable for fishing operations, bo that he is obliged to neglect the one for the sake of the other. la it any wonder that he is in .a chronic state of poverty ? He pays a relatively heavy rent for his bit of rock and bog, and he is liable to lose his gear and even his boat and his life every now and then. The western fishers therefore ought to excite the sympathy of every benevolent person. They are honest, hardworking, frugal, and hardy, and altogether a fine body of men. We are glad, therefore to see the efforts that are at present being made to furnish them with better vessels and fishing gear. With these they coula devote themselves exclusively to fishing, their farming being confined to the cultivation of a plot of potatoes for home consumption. This would be greatly to .their advantage.— Dublin Freeman.