THE IRISH ENVOYS TO AUSTRALASIA

New Zealand Tablet, 2 January 1913, Page 43

THE IRISH ENVOYS TO AUSTRALASIA

BANQUETED IN LONDON A complimentary dinner to the Australian delegates, organised by the ‘ Irish Parliament ’ branch of the United Irish League of Great; Britain, took place on Saturday night, November 9, in the Throne Room of the Holboru Restaurant. The committee of the branch had conducted the arrangements in the most efficient way, and the result was a large and representative assembly. The chair was taken by Mr. J. O’Connor, M.P., who is also chairman of the branch, and he was supported on the right by Mr. Hazelton, M.P., and on the left by Mr. W. a.' Redmond, M.P. Among those present at the principal table were Mr. J. E. Redmond, M.P., and Mrs. Redmond, Mr. T. P. O’Connor, M.P., Mr. W. Redmond, M.P., and Mr. J.-P. Hayden, M.P. '

Mr. W. A. Redmond, M.P., replying to the toast of 1 Our guests,’ said that the delegates to Australia had, conducted probably the most successful mission that was ever conducted by representatives of the Nationalists of Ireland beyond the seas. He did not, nor did his colleagues, take any vain glory to themselves on that account. Their success was due to the magnificent loyalty, the unswerving devotion of the Irish people in Australia and New Zealand (loud applause). They had furnished not only aid to the Irish fight, but one more proof to the British public that the British Empire as a whole was not only not hostile, but was almost unanimously in favor of the restoration of Irish national rights. The late Cardinal Moran, the prince of prelates statesman, declared before his death that even ii Irishmen at home were to give up the struggle the Irish in Australia would carry it on. It was to gentlemen like Cardinal Moran and Dr. O’Donnell, whose services to the Irish cause could never be calculated or overestimated; men like Martin Kenendy, of New Zealand; P. Healy, of Adelaide P. Whelan, of West Australia, and F. McDonnell, of Queensland; men representing every part of the Commonwealth and New Zealand, and that noble band of ' Catholic Bishops and clergy of the whole Continent of Australia that the delegates, the Irish Party, the Irish people, and the whole Irish race, owed a debt of gratitude which could never be repaid for their love and devotion to the old land, their personal sacrifices, their unfailing kindness and help, and their unbounded, their princely, generosity (loud applause). They , had kept the Irish banner aloft in fair weather and foul. The sun of freedom was now rising. They had freedom under the British flag, and they wanted to see that freedom extended to their native laud. Having paid a tribute to the brilliant advocacy, the devotion, and tact of Mr. Hazelton, which won for him a place in the hearts of the Australian people, Mr. Redmond referred to the fact that Mr. Donovan visited Australia for the second time, and renewed many former friendships. One outstanding feature of the tour, said Mr. Redmond, was the extraordinary universality and unanimity of the feeling in favor of Home Rule for Ireland. The delegates received everywhere practically unanimous support, moral and material, from the Australian press, from the public men, and from the populace. Mayors of cities, public representatives of every degree, appeared on their platforms, and there was scarcely anywhere a word of opposition. They were all in favor of a speedy settlement of the Irish question as not only conducive to the future well-being of Ireland, but also to the true cementing and strengthening of the British Empire. Australians were divided upon their affairs, but the one point upon which they all agreed was that It was necessary to concede Home Rule to Ireland at the earliest possible moment.

Mr. Hazelton, M.P., replying to the toast of ‘ Our countrymen abroad,’ said it had been his lot, his grand good fortune, to see, he was going to say, a good deal, but thought it better to say some careful things of the Irish race abroad, widely scattered in Canada, of the north of the United States, of Argentine, in the south of the great Australian Continent, And what was his

experience. He ventured to say—he thought it was not an. unfair conclusion to draw from his experience abroad—that there was not a corner of - the globe upon which the. Irishman had not left' his mark— mark of courage and independence (cheers), , and in which his presence was not wished for, whether the problem was of honest work or of statesmanship. All through the earth there were these Irish origins, and no one who had cared to be interested and who had met Irishmen in distant lands doubted that they were bound together as an essential unit in the affairs of this world, just as the Jews were (cheers). No doubt, the Irish, under new conditions, were being drawn closer in feeling with the British people. That, he believed, was quite true. But they had in that process given away nothing of their Irishism (cheers). They had not ceased to be Irish. And the Irish had always to be reckoned with, for those who. at home opposed them found in the end that they had to deal not only with the Irish people at home, but with the exiled Irish, who knew so well and who felt so keenly the grievous wrongs which had driven them out.