NATIONAL BANQUET IN LONDON

New Zealand Tablet, 9 May 1912, Page 47

NATIONAL BANQUET IN LONDON

ELOQUENT ADDRESS BY THE IRISH LEADER The St. Patrick’s banquet at the Hotel Cecil on the evening, of March 18 proved even more brilliant a success than the best of its predecessors. The Grand 1 Hall of the Hotel, enormously ample as its accommodation is, did not provide enough room for the banqueters, and a spacious adjacent room was used for overflow purposes, the total number sitting down to dinner being close on 800. The tickets had all been sold three weeks before, and the banquet officials had to refuse scores of applications. As a special favor, however, a number of the disappointed ones were permitted to the galleries after dinner to. hear the speeches. The Leader of the Irish Party presided, and had to the right and left of him Irish men : and women whose 1 names are household words. On one side were , the patriotic Bishop of Ross and the Right Hon. Thomas Shillington, of Belfast ; on the other Mrs. Green and Mr. John O’Callaghan, of Boston. ‘ THE IRISH LEADER’S SPEECH. '. - Mr. John Redmond, M.P., who was received with prolonged cheers, said: This year — might almost say this-. St. Patrick’s Daymarks the end of a long and dreary chapter of Irish history, and the commencement of a period which we hope and believe will be one of prosperity and liberty for our country. Nineteen years ago Mr. Gladstone’s second Home Rule Bill was defeated. In a few days from now another Home Rule Bill will bo introduced, and under such altered conditions that, I think, we all have warrant for believing it is. certain to pass into law. Ireland has not passed unscathed through these long years of patience, of. preparation, and of suffering since 1893. That period has been for our country a period of sacrifice, of tribulation, of coercion, and of death. . But the national cause has survived it all, because , the soul of that national cause is the spirit of Irish nationality, which is immortal. Now, ladies and gentlemen, a new era has dawned upon us. All through the dark nineteen years that have passed we have not only been surrounded by often bitter, unscrupulous and relentless enemies, but we have—it is a humiliating thing to have to admitwe have all through these- years been beset by doubters and pessimists and cynics on our own side. Where are those men to-day ? Where to-day are their counsels of despair ? Where are their prophets of failure? I remember well and you all do, when a few short years ago the Irish Councils Bill was rejected by the public opinion of Ireland, and when it was said, not by our open enemies only, but by many of our own countrymen, that Home Rule was dead; but in that dark hour of disappointment I did not hesitate to say to my fellow-countrymen in Ireland that within two or three years, if they were brave enough and wise enough to maintain their union, Home Rule would once again hold the field. - And I remember well how I was scoffed at for the statement. Well, to-day Home -Rule not only holds the field, but it Rivets the Attention of the World as the greatest constitutional issue of our time, and its. fortunes are followed from day to day with everincreasing interest and deep sympathy in every corner of the British Empire and in every State in the American Union. And later on, when we saw in the passage of- the Veto Bill the means, not only of freeing the democracy of this country, but also of opening the way to Home Rule, and when we were determined to put upon one side everything else in order to curb and destroy the Veto of the House of Lords, we were told that our action was futile, that it was impossible that the Bill could pass, and that it never would pass. Where are the men who made that prophecy to-day And then, when the Bill did pass, and when, remember, by our , Irish votes the democratic forces of this country were for the first time really emancipated, really enfranchised, really made paramount in the State, we were told that having done that for Great Britain the

Government would play Ireland false - and ; would endeavour to shelve the Home Rule question. And now, even now, when the Home Rule Bill is actually about to be introduced in a few short days, we are told that the Bill is going to be a bad and disappointing one. Mark the consistency of the statement. We are told it is going to split the Liberal Party because it is so extieme, and we are also told that it-is going to split the Irish Party, because it is so £ moderate. I am here to say to you to-night, ladies and gentlemen, that the latest prophecies of these men will prove to be as false as the earlier ones. I say to our open enemies, and I say to the doubters and the pessimists and the cynics on our own side, that I firmly believe the Home Rule Bill which will be shortly—in two or three weeks—introduced will be a great measure, that it will pass the House of Commons by a majority of over 100, and that, at the latest - - It Will, Inside of Two Years, be Carried Into Law. That Bill, in my belief, will solidify and enthuse the entire Liberal Party. It will be, in my opinion and belief, a Bill which, ■ apart altogether from the Irish aspect of this question, will commend itself to the Liberal Party as a great, measure of Imperial statesmanship, making for real unity, for real strength;'and permanent loyalty in the Empire. There will, therefore, ladies and gentlemen, if you may trust to my prognostications, be no caves in the Liberal Party, indeed, I think it is far more probable that before these discussions are over there will be no caves in the Unionist Party on this question of Home Rule. And so also—and about this I can speak with more certainty and more authority there will be no caves in the Nationalist Party. I feel quite convinced that the Bill which is about to be introduced will be such as will receive the unanimous acceptance of the Irish Nationalist Party and the Irish National Convention when it is held, and from the Irish race, throughout the world quite as Lank and as enthusiastic am acceptance as was accorded to either of Mr. Gladstone’s great Bills in 1886 or m 1893. Now, under these circumstances, ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to toast Ireland a Nation ’ Under these circumstances, surely, we can give that toast with hearts brimming over with thankfulness and with hope We cherish no rancor towards any class of our fellow-countrymen. In Parnell’s words, ‘ Ireland cannot afford to lose a single son.’ Our most fervent prayer is that old antagonisms, old bitternesses, old class and sectarian animosities? may be forgotten, and that we, the children of Ireland—Catholic, Protestant and Presbyterian— sprung from the Uelt, the Norman, the Cromwellian, or the Williamite may recognise that we are fused into. one great nation’ and that we may meet the future hand in hand. I say no only . or myself, but for those, whom I represent—and I feel I can say for you—that if that ideal be not immediately achieved the fault will not lie with us. We toast, them, ‘ Ireland a Nation.’ ' ‘ Ireland a Nation,’ self-governing, self-contained, self-supported, selfreliant—a nation proud of her past, a nation jealous of the memory of her great achievements, and as proud of the heroism of Derry as of Limerick, a nation proud of her language, of her literature, her songs and her traditions ; a nation made up of all classes and all creeds and all races within her shores; a nation ready and willing to-day as a free nation, but upon no other condition to enter loyally into that great sisterhood of selfgoverning States that make up the British Empire today; a nation founded on religious toleration, upon justice and protection for every minority, no matter how small; a nation which centuries of oppression have failed to obliterate or to conquer, but which now, after all her tribulations, her dissensions, and her disaffectionß, is destined, in my firm belief, once her rights have been conceded, to become the greatest of all human agencies in promoting in the future the glory and the power of the Empire into. Which for the firsAtime she liberty 111 t 0 ° n terms of equality of honor and of The toast of the I Irish Parliamentary Party ’ was

proposed by the Right Rev. Dr. Kelly, Bishop of Ross, and responded to by Mr. Sheehy, M.P. v. Mr. H. Osborne O’Reilly, who said he was an Ulster Methodist, proposed the toast of ‘ Ireland’s faithful children, in other lands,’ coupled with the name of Mr. John O’Callaghan, of Boston, who responded in an eloquent speech, in the course of .which he said the Irish in America had implicit faith in Mr. Redmond’s judgment, and if the chairman of the Irish: Party accepted the Home Rule Bill as a settlement of the Irish question, the Irish v, in America would abide by his decision. v A Tribute to Mr. Redmond’s Statesmanship. ; The Right Hon. Mr. Shillington proposed the toast of ‘ the Chairman.’ He said their chairman stood upon an eminence rarely attained by any statesman in any land. For many years he had been recognised as the elected Leader of the Irish people. From every distant land where an Irish colony" was found came oft-repeated messages of confidence in his leadership and affectionate regard for himself. Mr. Redmond had established for himaelf a reputation as a Parliamentarian almost, if not altogether, unrivalled. Leaders come and leaders go sometimespeople said they ‘must.’ He remembered. more than thirty Leaders of various parties; many of them resigned their leadership with much .poorer reputations than that with which they entered them. But the reputation of the chairman rose as the years went by. The position of the question of Irish self-government to-day in the councils of the Empire was the most convincing proof that could be afforded of the qualifications for leadership that were found in Mr. Redmond. In the face of unparalleled difficulties, amidst uncertainties and pitfalls created by the rise and fall of British parties and of Ministries, and of grave constitutional changes, the

Irish Party, led and guided by Mr. Redmond, had pressed forward the claims of the Irish nation with resolute and undaunted consistency. Where else did history- recall a similar, triujnph of patient- arid,faithful service in a great cause, pursued with such unswerving fidelity for so many years to a finally, successful issue ? Finally he would like to say that in his opinion history and Ireland would deal hardly,with the reputation of any Irishman, no matter what may have been his past services to his country, who at this great crisis in her fortunes did not absolutely subordinate all "personal feelings and interests to the vital issue to which the chairman had devoted his life. Mr. Redmond, in replying, expressed his pleasure at the toast being proposed by so distinguished an Ulster Protestant as the Right Hon. Mr. Shillington. Pie then went on to say: I have worked long in this cause, but it is work that was handed down to me by those who went before me, and all I can claim for myself is that I have done my best, and I have not spared myself in the movement. I hope and pray that I and all of you will live to see the re-establishment of a Parliament on Irish soil. For my part, when-.that day comes I will feel my work is done, and that I can then say, Nunc Dimittis. If so, I will go down happy and proud of the fact that I have been able during my life with my poor abilities to help on the cause for which my forefathers bled arid died in the past. The proceedings concluded with the singing of * God save Ireland.’ "