■.%. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I 11.25 ■iO '"'^~ 2.5 2.2 2.0 iiiiim U III 1.6 V ^ PhotcpBphic Scimces Corporation 2:> WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 rr?^ \ V %.•-> ^ -\ A v> ^ ». ^ ;\ il lli<> (Iik'cii'm Own in Cniiaila.) i>em\t.;reji at the (ii;EAT fenian vw. xu;, cincA(io, aug. i,-,, isno. Nprccli of .Ur. Coll'nx. La (J It's (inil Gc.Htlemcti : I fiiimo liHre at. your invitation, l)eoausH I liatl read tlie nol»le and pafrio'io resolu- tions wliicli voii had adopted, and \w- <'Vttn- days of ours which were witliout teen years at the close oi the last sunshine, ai.d nights without a star, ' century a free and independent Par- I know that Canada, was the hiding | liament in that isle of the ocean. place for traitors. 'IMiere were I VVcmld to ( ioii they had to day ! But hatchdd the jilots against our be- British gold has bought the union by loved land. Tl" v they plotted the wliich Ireland has been harnessed to sending of pesu -nee into our cities, the wheels of her conqueror, that thereby they might depopulate, I reiueiubfr the beautiful language our States. There they plotted the of (Jrattan wlurii be uioveif, in I7»U, poisiiiiitg our wells, that thereby our, the declaration i f rights in the lii.^ti" people luighi be deslro.ed. Not Parliament. I copied it yeslei iia> . content with this, theV sent their and I want to read it to you, for it is emissaries over the Canadian line for imbued with the true sentiment that the purpose of Ituniing our towns animates efery Irish heart today. and robbing our l)anks. I remember those facts, and 1 re member further that when we ap- pealed for justice, and when men were arrested who were guilty (»f these outrages, the Canadian autho '■. rities never lifled their finger to se cure iisjuslir.e. < )ii the contrary, they In tnoving Lliat declaration, wirch was to give them the exclusive right to h'gislate and judicate over the Irish people, he said : ' " I wish for nothing but to breathe the air of liberty, i will never be satisfied so Ituig as ttie meanest coi.- taL"M" in Ireland has a link of a Brit- * V ■Uh oliaiii clanking against his rags." Hu is dead, but bis iaii^^ua^e livus l(» day, full ut' the same spirit, that aMilIliUu^ our niilile I'niot). or^ani/a- lion. Two years afterwards, in 178ji, he again moved the Deolaratiou o( llitrhts, which was a(iupt(id unani- mously witli tremendous enthusiasm, and (Ireat IJritain.humljled hy the svar whi.ih our revolutionary fathers had fonduoted suooessfully in order to gain their indepeudenoe, had to yield, and did yield for eighteen ye.rs. He fipokf tiien in llus luugU'ge of tri- umph : "1 am now addressinj; a free peo- |de, and have only to admire hy what heaven direuied steps you iiave pro- ceeded until the whole nation has to rejoice in the act it' our deliverance. Vou have sought the liherty of your own memhers. .See the Preshvteri an.^ of Bangor petiiiou f.»r the Catho- lics of the South. I am not afraid to turn hack and look antiijuity in the face." There can be no nobler plea for Irish independence thu,u this glory which blazed out on the last years of the 18th century. I read the other day the foMowing incident which occurred in a Dublin (cemetery: — The graves of Tom Steele and Daniel O'Connell are <;!ose together, with only a marble slab to denote wiiere each of them lie. An American gentleman, speak ing to the .sexton, said ; " Mow hap- pens it that these two men of such diverse creeds sleep together in the same cemetery i" The old man, leaning on his crutch, said, "Tom .Steele was for Irish liberty, O'Con- nell was for Iri-fh liberty, and liberty makes brothers of us all." liutherethis Deuiooratii' larty.that used to claim to be the friends of Irishmen, have gone down to Phila- fii'iphia There they are to surren- der their party name. They are to receive their creed, as this u.orning's papers say, Irom Andrew .Iohn.son, who acted under the diotaiion of the British .Minister. Bit the ITnion party in Congress, 'aithful to those priniiiples upon which it is based, sent to the Pres- ident asking him to deiuandofthe British authorities the release id' the Fenian i)risoners in (.'anada. That resolution the President has |>ro^nised to nbey. Then, un moliiui of Mr. Spaulding, a Rep .blicun, it wa.s unanimou.sly resolved by the House, in which we have an overwhelming majority, to ask the President to release the Fe- nian prisoners whom he had him.self taken and locked up in jail upon our side of the line, or whom he had re- leased on bail. I grieve to say that resolution has not been respected or obeyed yet by the President, al- though it came from the represen a- tives of the American pertple. And here t,oday stands (loneral O'Neill with the bonds of the President of the United States upon him, and this be- cause he loved Irish liberty and struck for its defense. rinding the way in which British neutrality laws had worked, under the lead of Mr. Banks an attempt was made to scale down our neutrality laws, so that we might mete out lo them such measure as they had meted to us. Then, too, when General Roberts, the President of the Fenian Brotherhood, a i)atriotic citizen whom I am proud to call my frie>id, spoke to a multitude at Washington, in the hall of the Soldiers, and Sailors, Fair room, and demanded that those who followed his standard should be in favor of they had hoard, would bo presump tion. The cause of Fenianlaiu was a great and glorious one. It must be so when the Governor of the State, General Logan, and Speaker Colfax had expressed their sympathy with the order. The cause which those men were willing to advocate was that of human liberty for all men, black and while, who had been made after the image of God. He was willing to lay down his life at any lime 10 secure the victory of those principles. He knew Abolitionism was not a popular theme with hi.s countrymen, because it had been denounced by a party who would deceive and scd them, and traffic in their votes and patriotism, yet would not aid the men who struck for Irish independ- ence. But it was beginning to be popular even with his own country- men, and a treacherous party would hold them bound to them no longer. What others, and among them the President, had said of their frioi.d- ship to the Irish wan false. He had broken his pledges to them. The speaker's friends at Nashville had urged him not to assail the President, claiming that he was a friend to the Fenians; but /hough he had nercr hrj'uie ndcil, he iak'niJctl hcrciijler to ruli' for Ihi: purlij (iHil iht men ichu by their deeds- and nut words hud shoirn their stjm/Ja/hi/jhr Jrishme/., They had been deceived often enough. l'resid"nt JoliiiHon had canvnysed Tennessee against the Know Noth- ings, but that was merely to become C'overnor. He did not love Itish- men. Of late, that man constrmd the neutrality laws in such a man ner a;i to ruin tlieir hopes, while if he haU given them a fair chance ihey must have been successful. .Many men did not believe they could put, lo.ooo sjldiers in (Janada, but if it had not been for the great vigilance of the I're.-iident and his sMbordinaics, •iOO.Ooij men would have been there, and they would in u month havt» held every fortified position in (!ana- da. Those Demornits irho hud jtretr/id ■ ed to he their life loiiij:' j'rieiids had lietruijed than, lie believed I'rcisi- dent .Johnson would turn him (the speaker) over to the liritish if ho dared, but the Ameriijan i)eopli! would not permit it. Their prett^ml- ed friends liad sold him, but he trust- ed they would be disappointed nu longer, and while he did not intend to become a politiciyn, he was going tor the party that would assist them, and he hoped thut ererij Irishinun there icoidd do the same. They had been deceived and ca- joled long enough. I'ut that Demo- cratic party had showed that when the Irish were prepared to strike otV their chains they would not allow it, fearing that they might lose some- thing thereby. At the time when the freedom of their land was within their grasp, it was snatched from them by the President and ins asso- ciates. Tlieir army was not a purely Irish one. Hundreds and thousands of Americans who had fought North and South were ready to join in striking a blow Tor Ireland. Many ollicers were ready co go with them, but the President had, in his great spoediness, stopped that. He was probably afraid to let the Irish go to Canada let they would not be ])res- (Mit to vote the l)('iiiocratic ticket. Had those men been allowed to stay in Canada, the English would have been on their knees to the Fen- ians. With < "anada tliey could have fitted out privateers, destroyed Fng- lish commerce, and liefore two years have brought her on her knees. It was his opinion they could have liberated Ireland without striking a blow there.