A GALLANT SPEECH—EXPRESSING THE TRUE AMERICAN SENTIMENT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 27, 30 October 1885, Page 21

A GALLANT SPEECH— EXPRESSING THE TRUE AMERICAN SENTIMENT.

(New York Freeman's Journal.)

There was a great gathering of men of Irish blood, and supporters of Mr. Parnell, at Indianapolis on the Bth September. The signal feature of the meeting was a ringing speech from Thomas A. Hendiicks, Vice- President of the United States. It is reported as follows : —

Mr. Chairman and Fellow-citizens, — Always, whatever may be her condition, Ireland will find devoted and steadfast friends in the United States. This is no contest between navies or between armies for the establishment of good government in Ireland, aad very especially do I enjoy participating and joining with you' Irish men and Irish women in announcing the sentiments you express on tbia occasion. What shall be the government of Ireland ? For many yearß it bas not been a controverted question that Ireland has been dealt hardly by. It is known the world over that Ireland, from tbe daya of Henry 11. uniil this hour, bas not had fair play from Great Britain. On the contrary, she has been denied the rights of equal citizenship, and baß been despoiled of her nationality. Every Irishman here to-night, every Irishman in America, is, personally, a protest against the bad government of England toward Ireland. How is it that you are here, having left almost tbe most beautiful land in the world 1 Perhaps no part of this globe is more attractive than Ireland ; and yet you left Ireland. You are here because you could not get good government in Ireland. Forty-five years ago tbe population of the "Green Isle" was 9,000,000 of people— a large population for a region of country only the size of Indiana. To-da? after a lapse of foity-five years, that population is only 5,000,000, a loss in leBS than bait a century of 4,000.000 — almost an entire half of the population gone fiom Ireland. I know tbat the famine of 1846 had much to do with this ; but bid government and cruelties by landlords have done more than famine and pestilence to depopu. late the beautiful isle. I would say it is a serious matfer when a ra#n or woman chases to leave the place that has been the home of Aor her ancoeto;! 'for many centuries. And when, ou account of Dad government, unjust laws, and a cruel system of land tenure there has been driven away almost half of the population, the question "What is to be done? 1 " comes up. It cannot remain always this way. The landlord who draws the rent cannot always enjoy it in Paris and London. He must have a paTt in the fortunes of tbe people of the country or quit. It cannot always be that the people of Ireland are to be oppressed. I think the era of tyranny in every form is about to pass away, and that the day is soon to come when all mtn will be blest with good government and ju-^t laws. It ig well enough for you and me to understand just what the political contest in Ireland means. I chanced to pay a visit to the House of Commons a few years ago, and heard this cause pleaded. Mr. Parnell, then, as now, was the leader, and held that, in respect to her domestic affaire, Ireland should have the right to make her own laws. There are this fall a hundred members of Parliament to be

elected from Ireland, and Mr. Parnell expects that of this number his cause will carry eighty or eighty-five ; so that, when Parliament meets, there will be of true, tried, and reliable friends of Ireland about eighty members, who will go to Parliament for the purpose of asserting the right of local self-government for Ireland, what a beautiful system that will be. They get it from you Irishmen in America. There, as I said, is Indiana, about the same sice as Ireland — differing not more in extent than Marion County — with a population not more than half as large as that of Ireland. We, here, would allow no man to speak of taking from us the right and power of local self-government. We recognise the right and power of the General Government ; bit what affects you and me, and the people of Indiana with us, is that Indiana makes her own laws. The mission of the men to be sent from Ireland to Parliament is to have for Ireland what we Indianians enjoy ; — to claim the right to make our own laws, simply because we can regulate oar own affairs better than any one else can regulate them for us. So, Irishmen, on their own soil, for that simple reason, must be the legislators for Ireland. That was the great argument first asserted in this country. One hundred years has established the fact that local self-government with respect to local affairs is the true system of government in this world.

The great trouble in Ireland to-day is the land. Where there is trouble with the laud in any country, the trouble is exceedingly great. Much has been done in Ireland to make better the condition of the tenant ; but the land trouble still exists, and it must be regulated. It must be regulated as we regulate such matters in Indiana, by legislators from the soil. No question can arise between the landlord and tenant in Indiana that is not regulated by our Legislature. So, Ireland must have local self-government. Who in Indiana would trust to any other State the legislation for her schools, or the building up of her industries 1 So, according to Mr. Parnell, not only the agricultural classes, but the mechanics, the people of the cities and towns must live ; and when lieland becomes clothed with the right and power of local self-government these matters will b» cared for. That is a great doctrine so plainly expressed, and so powerful in its application to human interests, that it will never stop. It will go on. It is not reasonable that in London the relation of the landlord and the tenant in Ireland should be fixed. It is against reaFon and justice that such a practice should permanently prevail. Whe.i the men to be elected by the friends of Ireland come to Parliament it will be to say as one man : Local self-government in Ireland." You are asked to help in this election. There is to be no mistake made at this election. There will be no shams, no frauds. Ireland ia tremendously in earnest. Before any man is nominated he is to give a written pledge to sit »nd vote and act with the members representing Ireland favourable to Ireland's cause. Mr. Parnell is a very great leader, and I believe he is going to lead hiß countrymen to triumphant success. It is proper that I should say to you that the friends of your country in Ireland rely upon the differences between the great English parties, whether Whig or Tory, Radical or Liberal. Not greatly different are they in numbers and force, and Mr. Parnell relies upon this ; and if Ireland is thoroughly united in the struggle between the English parties, Ireland will be placed where sh« ought to be in her political relations with the world. Each party seeking strength from the Irish vote will help to place Ireland where she has the right to stand. I think this cause will go further than has been yet mentioned. It will result in just what we have in Indiana — a wiitten Constitution. That is what I hope to see — Ireland to be governed by a written Constitution by which Parliament will b© restricted as our Legislature is by the Constitution of the United States. Will it not be a grand sight, when in the city of Dublin there will meet a Constitutional Convention to formulate a Constitution for Ireland? I observe Mr, Parnell favours a legislature consisting of one branch — one Parliamentary bodj. He is afraid of a House of Lords, perhaps ; but he could have, as we have here, a Senate in its stead, and thus be saved from errors and faults of legislation. Ido not know of anything that could give tn» greater pleasure than to attend that Convention in Dublin. I want to live until that time. Let us come back to the great question which lies at the foundation of all government, the question of the right of the people to make their own laws and that no other power hat a right to make laws for them. You remember where we stood one hundred years back. You remember that, in the declaration of Independence, we asserted the right of men to govern themselves. That is the great foundational idea of America ; and it is now being applied, in Ireland, to a cause to which you are asked to give your sympathy and support— the right of man to govern himself and to abolish laws that are inimical to his welfaie. In hope that principle was assorted at Bunker Hill, and in glorious triumph it was proclaimed at Yorktown.

After the address of Vice-President Hendricks, resolutions cordially endorbing tbe programme of Mr. ParnelL and the Irish Party were unanimonsly adopted ; and after speeches by other prominent citizens, the following di-patch was forwarded by cable telegraph to Mr Parnell at the clot,e of the meeting : '• Charles Stewart Parnell, Dublin, Ireland :—: —

" At an immense mass meeting, held here to-night, addressed by Hon. Tnornas A. Hendricks, Vice- President of the United States, resolutions were adopted indorsing your address of August 22, and promising you aid, moral and financial.

" Johst E. Lamb, Chairman." A correspondent of the Boston Piltt gives us further particulars as follows : —

The Committee on Resolution, reported tha following, which were unanimously passed, and tbe meeiing adjourned :—: —

" Ilesolved, that we, the w ciiizensof Indianapolis, in mass meeting assembled, believing that Ireland has plainly proven her ability to govern herself, and that in the uniestrained enjoyment of those incentives to industry and progress, and the opportunities for development which are the rights of all peoples, she bae within herself all the elements of true greatness. Not that greatness alone which springs from war or conquest, but that which follows the pursuits of

the arts of peace, the promotion of the people's happiness, and the elevation and ennobling of the whole humVn family. "Wing that instead of the crippled dependency she has been unwillingly made by uujust ricious legislation, the stunted dwarf of English prejudice and hatred, she possesses all the essentials, the brain and the brawn, wealth of soil and wealth of soul, that go to build up proud and prosperous nations ; believing that the world has grown too broad and grand in its aims and possibilities to countenance the senseless and bigoted cry of -'impossible," which we now hear echoed from England s Press, m answer to the demand of a united people for those rights of which tuey have been robbed, and which tbey are bravely battling to reclaim ; and beholding all these facts, we cheerfully pledge h-;r our most earnest sympathy and support in this hour so fraught with hope for her future. We have watched her during the long, dark years, and sorrowed at her helpless misery, and now when the o^ary night eeems brightening into dawn, it is not for us to relax our efforts. We have shown our solicitude for the feeble infant m its years of nerveless despondency, and fostered and encouraged Us growth ; and now that it has assumed proportions of grand and vigorous maturity, and meets with bold, unflinching front tne power that has hampered it for ages it is our highest pride and privilege to assist, by every means in our power, to carry out the promises so patiently and anxiously hoped for. It is, therefore, further '

pi. Ji JB 2!^'"T, That « h ? cauße o£ Jreland, under ;the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnull, is entitled to the hearty sympathy and sup82[ViU?i> ff'endß«ff f' endB « f ri i ht and freedom ; and using the words of the Irish Tribune himself, we feel that • there is something solemn and dazzling m the thought that we belong to a generation about to witness the finish of a struggle lasting 700 years.' And we pledge ourselves to render practical aid in accomplishing its final triumph in whatever effective way such aid can be honourably rendered " ' Altogether the meeting was a thorough business one -not a moment lost, nor a word wasted-and, therefore, like Paraell himself it was a thorough success. '