MR. T. P. O'CONNOR AS AN ORATOR

New Zealand Tablet, 19 January 1911, Page 97

MR. T. P. O'CONNOR AS AN ORATOR

♦ Mr. T. P. O'Connor (writes a Canadian correspondent of the New York Freeman's Journal) closed his mission in Canada by a speech delivered before the members of the Canadian Club at Halifax. The bankers, merchants, lawyers, the clergymen of every and all denominations had come to hear. The hall was thronged to overflowing, and out in the corridors staid men of business climbed on chairs and tables and benches to see the Irish Envoy and to hear that voice that has made the conquest of the whole Canadian people. There are those who think, or prefer to believe, that the palmy days of eloquence and oratory have passed for ever, and that there no longer live those who can sway the multitude as Chatham and Fox and Grattan swayed the men of their day. That there exists no more the magic spell that emanated from an O'Connell, a Mirabeau, a Massilon, or a Savonarola, I do not agree with such. For I do not believe that any orator that ever lived has swayed, charmed, fascinated, and won his audiences so completely as Mr. O'Connor has done during a tour of ten thousand miles, covering the chief cities of Canada and of the American North-west. His speech at the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago was listened to by men who once planned extreme revolutionary methods for Ireland's amelioration. There also were Americans of English, German, Scotch, and Italian descent. An English member of Parliament, Mr. Greydon Marks, of Cornwall, was also there intently listening to the Irish Envoy's message to the people of the great city of Chicago. As the speaker unfolded the story of the new Ireland, told of the transformation that had been effected since that historic day in 1879, when Michael Davitt proclaimed the famous battle-cry of ' The Land for the People,' as he pictured how the rack-renter had been routed out of Ireland, the land of Ireland restored to the grand old Celtic race, how fifty-five thousand laborers' cottages had replaced the mud-wall cabins of the past, how Ireland had now a great National University of her own, where the intellect of young Ireland would be shaped and fashioned to parallel the glorious intellectual achievements of the Ireland of St. Columba, Columbanus, and St. Brendan, the audience listened spellbound as if charmed by the entrancing music of a magic harp. Then he passed swiftly on and told his audience that there was a new England too, that the English masses were marching side by side and hand in hand in a great battle for democratic success, that the race war between Ireland and England was dead and buried, and that the masses were a unit for the uplifting and regeneration of the con-

dition of the masses of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Now his voice was low and soothing as the pathos of his story required; again it was loud and defiant when hurling defiance and anathemas at the wrongdoers that sit in high places and administer injustice to God's people; again the merry twinkle of the eye, the mobile face and the humorous voice prepared the way for the brilliant sallies of wit and humor sparkling in his speech. It was the great actor exhibiting the marvellous power of the great artist and the true orator to conjure with his hearers. It recalled to me the achievements of St. Bernard of Clairvaux when his magic eloquence fired the nations of Europe for the second Crusade; and when after an hour's tension and emotion, the orator wound up with a peroration full of pathos, power, and beauty, the whole audience rose to its feet and greeted him with loud and prolonged applause. I saw Scotch and Irish _ Presbyterians, with the snows of seventy winters on their brow, with moistened eyes, and hoarse voices, cheering for the new gospel preached to them. I saw old and venerable looking Orangemen rush up and grasp Mr. O'Connor by the hand and proclaim themselves Home Rulers. Speaking often four and five times a day to students and faculties of great universities; to the young ladies of academies and of normal colleges; to the members of the Press Clubs in the various cities of Canada and the United States; on convivial occasions at dinners or suppers, or at the great public meetings, or in hundreds of interviews, there never emanated from his lips a sentiment, an idea or a view that was not tersely and forcibly expressed, and that Mas not in accordance with the best and noblest traditions of the Irish race. Here perhaps I should end the story, but there * may be envious tongues who would strive to belittle the marvellous work which T. P. O'Connor has done for Ireland and for humanity. Yet I make bold to say that all I have written of his achievements fall below his 'deserts. Like the great Lincoln, with ' charity toward all and malice toward none,' he has preached far and wide the gospel of reconciliation, peace and liberty, and for ages to come nations will bless him for the good work he has done during this present mission. Men like the great and apostolic John Ireland, of St. Paul, blessed him for his good work. Men like the saintly Archbishop McCarthy of Halifax, and the zealous Archbishop Christie of Portland, Oregon, put the seal of their approval on his work and congratulated him on its brilliant success. No malice or envy can mar or blast the magnificent work which T. P. O'Connor has done in Canada, and he can go back to the old country conscious that one hundred millions of people hold his name in benediction for his services to Ireland and to humanity.