AMERICAN DELEGATES IN IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 24 July 1919, Page 11

AMERICAN DELEGATES IN IRELAND

A special meeting of the Corporation was held in the Dublin City Hall on Saturday, May 10, at noon to welcome to the city of Dublin Messrs. Frank P. Walsh, Edward F. Dunne, Michael J. Ryan, and P. Lee (secretary), the delegates appointed by the Irish Race Convention held in Philadelphia to the Peace Conference, and also for the purpose of expressing approval of and wishing God-speed to their efforts for Irish freedom. There was a large attendance of the members of the council, and also of visitors. The Lord Mayor, who presided, said the meeting had been summoned to give the members of the council representatives of the citizens—an opportunity of extending to their friends from America, who had honored them with their presence, a sincere welcome to the city. In the world of to-day the United States occupied a position of great power, and a peculiar position of great influence amongst the nations of Europe. Their friends had come from that country whose motto was “liberty” and “equality.” They came with a mandate to the Peace Conference, to see justice done to Ireland, and above all to see that Ireland was not left once more upon the dissecting table of an alien Parliament, and made a pawn in the game of Imperial politics, and to see that this ancient nation, after the many efforts it had made to regain its ancient freedom, was not going to be baulked again, and that the many false promises of our oppressors during the weary years that were gone, should no longer be continued and no longer tolerated. (Applause.) Turning to the Commissioners, he continued : —“And, gentlemen of the Delegation, it is because we are conscious of a complete unity of purpose with you, based upon an identity of State ideals, that we venture to extend a welcome to you, as our people glow, as you do, with the passion of an inextinguishable faith in liberty and justice. (Applause.) Outside of the personal regard we have for you as men who have always been found foremost in the vanguard for the demands of Irish liberty, we cherish you for yourselves ; we venerate you owing to the country you have come from and the people you represent—America. Therefore, the bond of sympathy between the United States and Ireland is not the creation of yesterday. The interest, the love, and the help that exist between the two countries is no mere passing fancy. You have come with a message of hope, you have come with the most solemn duty to see that this country is not going to be ignored at the Peace Conference.” (Applause.) The High Sheriff (Mr. John MacAvin) proposed—- “ That this Municipal Council of the City of Dublin welcomes most cordially and heartily to our city the delegates from the Irish Race Convention held at Philadelphia in February last, and sincerely wish them the greatest success in their efforts for the freedom of our native land.”

Mr. Moran, seconding the resolution, said it was only fitting that the municipal representatives of Ireland’s capital under the chairmanship of its chief citizen should publicly extend a hearty welcome to the delegates appointed by their friends and relatives in America —more especially when they knew that they were appointed to come as representatives of the great cause of human liberty, so that Ireland might enjoy the blessings of freedom she had been so long denied. He extended them a hearty welcome, because they came from a great country, the President of which he regarded as the greatest champion of democratic ideas modern times had produced. Mr. P. T. Daly, supporting the resolution, said it was with the greatest possible pleasure that he associated himself with the resolution welcoming to this capital city of our nation these representatives, who came as American citizens to do their best to establish in this country one of the Fourteen Points which their President had put before the world, and the cardinal principles for the recognition or establishment, or re-establishment of peace. Adverting to the occurrence at the Mansion Blouse on May 9, Mr, Daly re-

marked, amidst laughter, that the English Government in its anxiety for the protection, of . the Irish • people had sent out their armored cars and soldiers to prevent them doing anything wrong or injuring themselves; but the delegates would bear witness- to the fact that there never was a more well-disposed and- orderly assembly. Or, he said, they might have been playing their characteristic part of the bully; and he wanted the delegates to carry back the message that no bullying would ever drive the national spirit out of Ireland. (Loud cheers.) Alderman Thomas Kelly, M.P., also supported the resolution. Mr. John Ryan, J.P., said the visitors appeared to be very naughty boys, such as their fathers and ancestors were. According to a section of the Irish and British press, they were very naughty boys indeed, because they were declared and avowed Republicans. Delegate’s Reply. Mr. Michael J. Ryan, on rising to reply on behalf of his colleagues, was cordially' received. He thanked the council for the splendid manner in which the resolution was passed and the language in which it had been introduced. Not for them personally had it been passed, but for the honor of the thousands of Irish exiles in America whom they represented in their mission, as some slight token of their kin, of whom they were part and whose messengers they were. Pie was one of the dreamers of their people—an idealist, if they might say so —but he revelled in the glamor of this island. America had been, and was, the greater Ireland of their race. They (the Commissioners) were sons of exiles who left the country, and they had come to help to pay the debt they owed to the motherland. They came with a message of hope, and would do all they could for their cause, though he admitted, for what had been showered upon her, America could never pay the debt she owed to Ireland. (Applause.) There were two great principles that made America great . For centuries our forebears were challenging English supremacy in Ireland. They had kept up the fight for years, and, if necessary, they would keep it up for ever. (Applause.) To the Government exercising functions in Ireland not a square mile of it owed allegiance, and to any other race but that of Ireland such a thing would be anomalous. They were idealists, and knew that the things of the spirit survived. Athens had represented more for humanity than did Sparta. This Irish nation was yet a thing of spirit, but it was certain to acquire an important constitution. A new spirit had inflamed the people of America, and men who in the busy stress of American life had thought that all their hopes and ambitions were in Americathese men were now joining hands ; through the mysterious thrall that Ireland had over its kindred, they felt the voice of mother Erin calling, and they responded. They even saw it was to their material interests in America to be of an independent people throwing up their heads and able to face their fellows as equals, and not as parts of and representatives of a subject race. Concluding, he said vested interests need have no fear of Ireland. He looked upon a future that was glorious; this cradleland of their race that had endowed the earth with its genius ; that had given its sons to make'better every part of the habitable globe ; that had given captains of industry and makers of nations—this Ireland that was mother of Empires, a great future was hers. The enterprise, the energy, the ability that had been scattered over the world would be centred here, and. some day that dream would be realised, and Ireland would be the pathway of commerce between both hemispheres. God grant it was coming. (Loud applause.)

The Lord Mayor announced that a number of deputations to the Commissioners were in attendance, and he supposed the members of the council had no objection to their being heard. (Hear, hear.)

Mix’s. Sheehy-Skeffington, heading a deputation from the Irish Women’s Franchise League, presented an illuminated address from that body,.

5. Madame Marckievicz, M.P.jV Mrs. Wyse Power, and Miss Wyse Power presented an address on behalf of the C'umann na mßhan. - Mr. Dunne replied to_ the address. He expressed their appreciation of the honor done them by the women of Ireland. They all recognised the force of woman in all great political and moral reforms. In America they had done all they could to obtain for the women there the suffrage, and one of the delegation had had the power and pleasure of enfranchising three million women in one State of America. They knew f where the hearts and souls of the women of Ireland were, and the authorities in the Castle were so sure of the sentiments of the Irish in reference to the Irish cause that only yesterday in their (the Commissioners’) presence they desecrated the privacy of the first lady of Ireland’s chamber in the Lord Mayor’s mansion for the purpose of discovering, as they believed, the presence of a man who was loyal to Irish interests. That act alone was a greater tribute to the loyalty of the women of Ireland than anything he or his colleagues might say. (Applause.) The proceedings concluded, and as the delegates .departed they were loudly cheered by the crowds assembled outside the City Hall. During the day the delegates visited Mountjoy Gaol and were received by Sir John Irwin and other members of the Visiting Committee. The governor of the prison explained to the visiters that they could not interview the prisoners. They were then shown round the prison. So far as could be ascertained, none of the prisoners are on hunger-strike, and none are handcuffed, although some are in close confinement in consequence of certain breaches of the rules. During their visit the delegates had a view of the exercise ground, and saw some of the prisoners, including Mr. Pierce Beasley, at exercise. The political prisoners had apparently become aware of the visit of the American delegates, and they took an opportunity of lining up in the exercise ground 'and indulging in hearty cheering. The delegates also visited the Archbishop of Dublin at his palace, Drumcondra, and were introduced to his Grace by Mr. de Valera and the Lord Mayor of Dublin. His Grace thanked the delegation for their visit to Ireland in the interest of the Irish cause, and asked them to convey to Cardinal Gibbons his appreciation of his action at the Philadelphia Convention. He expressed his regret that his serious illness had prevented his receiving them properly when they attended the Pro-Cathedral for Mass on the previous Sunday, and remarked that “the delegates had an experience on the previous evening of the . kind of Government under which we are living in Ireland.” .