Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1883 — ERIN GO BRAGH. [ARTICLE]

ERIN GO BRAGH.

K«aoluttens tfce irtafc National Leaguei The Oppressions of England and the Sufferings of Ireland Recited. Thelrtah-American people, assembled tn convention at Philadelphia, submit to the intelllUence and right reason of their iellow-men that the duty of a Government is to preserve the Uvea of the governed; to defend their liberty; to protect their property; to maintain peace And hrder; to Allow each portion of the people an equitable and efficient voice in the legislature; and to promote the general welfare by wise, just and humane laws. We solemnly declare, and cite unquestioned history and the universal knowledge of living men in testimony thereof—--1 That the English Goveroment has existed in Ireland, net to preserve theTiyes of the governed, but to destroy them. Entire communi- & r S‘ Kwans'i' sssask; suspended front the gibbet; pilling babes have been impaled on points of its bayonets, bMaiwe, in their own words, its emissaries liked that kind of government; its gold has been folded in the hand of the assassin, and has rewarded the infamy of the perjured traitor fits treacherous ialsehood has lured patriot s to unsuspected death, as if the sword, cannon, torch, scaffold, dagger and the explosive were not enough; it enjoys the unique infamy of being the only Government known to ancient or modern tifnes which has emplayed famine for the destruction of those fro* whom it claimed allegiance, forcibly tabbing the Irish, people of the fruits of theif own toil; jpfodticed b¥ their own labor; it has buried, not a hundred, nbt a thousand, but moTO than a million of the Irish race uhshroiiaed, uncoffined, in graves of hunger; it has mercilessly compelled other millions in compulsory poverty to seek in alien lands the bread they were entitled to in their own. There is no form of cruelty known to the lowest savage which it has flos practiced 0n the Irish people in the name of the hfchest civilization; there 18 no device of fiendish ingenuity it has not adopted to reduce their number, within two years it has massacred children, and woman’s body has been the victim of its licensed ruffians. There is no species of destructive attack, however insidious or violent, ancient or modern, rude or scientific, whether directed against life or matter, in any portion Of the globe, fSt Which its barbarities In Ireland have not furnished ttn example. There is no form of retaliation to which dfispaif or madness may resort, for which English cruelty in Ireland is not exclusively responsible. 2. We declare that the English Government in Ireland has net defended the liberty of the people, but has annihilated it. The statutes enacted einpe the invasion amount to a series of coercion UWs framed to deprive citizens of all vestiges of personal freedom; aiid reduce them to outlawry, in order to confiscate their property and compel them to flee to foreign lands. Since the beginning of the present century, when the Irish Parliament was abolished, the laws for Ireland have been made in England, and during that period the habeas corpus act and the right Of trial by jury have been suspended. More than fifty times hOrdes of Soldiers have been loosed upon a people forbidden to bear armS; and a state of war, with all its attendant horrors, with occasionally those of retaliation, has been maintained. To-day the representatives of the peoSile are in prison guiltless of crime, freedom of peech has been abolished, the freedom of the press abolished, and the-right of a peaceable public meeting is annulled. NO flan a house is secure, night or day, from armed marauders, who may insult and harass his family. Without a warrant a citizen may be thrown into prison, Und without counsel he may be put on a mock trial before a prejudiced Judge and packed jury. On the lying averment of purchased wretches, his liberty may be sacrificed, or his life taken, in the name of law.

8. Instead of protecting the property of the people t the English Government in Ireland has been conspicuous for its injury and ruin. Out of 20,000,000 acres of producing land, 6,000,000 have been allowed to lie in waste, dnd the ownership of the remainder has been generally acquired by force or fraud, and been retained In the hands of ravenous monopolists, jvho have annually drained the country of its money in the form of rents, no portion of which goes back to the Irish people. In addition to this, an iniquitous system of taxation imposes on the people a gigantic burden for the sustenance of a foreign army, for an oppressive constabulary, for salaries to supernumerary officials, for pensions to English favorites, for blood-money to informers, and for a vulgar court, whose extravagance is equaled only by the shame of its pretensions. The nfttUrally-created capital bf the country is sent to England on one pretext or another, and brings no exchange except articles of English manufacture, which the Irish people, under self-government, would produce for themselves, or purchase in America. Irish manufactures that have been deliberately destroyed by England in the last century are still dormant. Her Immense watef-pOwer turns nowheels; her canals are all but impassable; her rivers are obstructed; her useful clay and valuable minerals are untouched; in her beautiful harbors are few ships, except those of her enemy. English law for the protection of property in Ireland has been a lance to make Ireland bleed at every pore for the benefit of the heartless landlords and English manufacturers. 4. The English Government In Ireland has not maintained peace and order, but has, for 700 yenrSjbroken her peace and destroyed her order. 6. The English Government in Ireland docs not allow that portion of the empire an equitable and efficient voice In the legislature. In England, oiie-twelfth of the population votes for members of Parliament, while in Ireland not oae-twenty-fifth of the population votes for members of Parliament. In England registration laws are favorable to voters; in Ireland they are Inimical to voters. In England all classes of the populace are fairly represented; in Ireland the poor law is employed to secure to landlords and place-hunters a preponderance in the national delegation. In England the judiciary is independent Of the executive and sympathizes with the people; in Ireland the judiciary is a creature, and part of the executive, and is appointed exclusively from the enemies of the people. In England the magistracy is chosen without regard to creed ! in Ireland 97 per cent, of the magistrates having jurisdiction Over the people's liberty are selected from a creed rejected by 78 per cent, of the people, and a detestable spirit of religious bigotry is thus legalized and perpetuated. In England the laws creating civil disabilityon account of religion have long been dead; in Ireland the laws made under Edward UI., Queen Elizabeth, Earl of Stratford, Charles HI., Queen Anne and their successors ara still vital tertorment a people for whose oppression no statute is found too hoary by the venal and truculent Judges. Every measure of legislation proposed by an English member receives courteous consideration; any measure, however just, necessary or humane, proposed by patriotic Irish membersis certain of contemptuous rejection by a combined majority of both great English parties. Thus the educational system' of Ireland is notoriously inadequate; thus it is that evictions unknown in England, and declared by Gladstone to be almost equivalent to a death sentence, are of daily occurrence in Ireland, and have nearly doubled in five years, in spite of the boasted benefits of Gladstone’s land laws; that although, according to Government returns, criminals are twenty-seven in 10,000 of English population, and only sixteen in 10,000 of Irish population, in spite of the'exasperation to which they are subjected, yet England enjoys constitutional liberty, and Ireland is under worse than martial law. Intrepid and persistent attempts by patriot Irish deputations to obtain in English Parliament just and humane laws for Ireland always have been, and, it is our belief, must continue to be a failure. Now, therefore, in view of these facts, be it Resolved, By the Irish-American people in convention assembled, that the English Government in Ireland, originating in usurpation, perpetuated by ioroe. having failed to discharge any of the duties of the Government, and never having acquired the consent of the governed, has no moral right whatever to exist in Ireland, and that it is the duty of the Irish race throughout the world to sustain the Irish people in the employment of all legitimate means to substitute for it a national self-government. Resolvea, That we pledge our unqualified and constant support, moral and liteial, to our countrymen tn Ireland in efforts to recover national self-government, and in order the more effectually to promote this object by the consolidation of all our resources, and the creation of one responsible and authoritative body, to speak for Ireland in America, that all societies present In this convention, and all t at may hereafter comply with the oonstitu’ions < f admission, be organized into the Irish National League Of America, for the purpos • of supporting the Irish National League of Ireland, of which Charles Stewart Parnell is Preside nt. Resolved, That we heartily indorse the sentiment of Bishop Butler, of Limerick, that every stroke of Forster’s savage lash was for Irishmen a new proof of Parnell’s worth and title to the crnfidence and gratitude of his countrymen. Resolved. That we sympathize with the laborers of Ireland in their efforts to improve their condition, and, as we have sustained farmers in their assaults upon the landlord garrison, we now urge upon farmers justice and humane consideration for laborers, in words, for the employment of which an Irish member of Parliament was imprisoned, we demand that farmers allow laborers "a fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work." Resolved, That as the manufactures of Great Britain are the chief source Of her material greatness, and as they are already declining under the influence of American competition, we earnestly counsel our countrymen in Ireland to buy nothing in England which they can r roduce in Ireland, or procure from America or France, and we pledge ourselves to promote Irish manufactures by encouraging their Import into America, and to use our utmost endeavors to secure plain statements of fact, and a discrimination in the patronage, and to persuade the American tradesmen from keeping English, goods on sale. Aesoloedy That an English Ministry* oaten-

tatioualy liberal,’ bus earned the contestant and detestation of the fair-minded men throughout the World more than 1,000 dtitefis «f Ireland without accusation or trial, among whom Were noble-hearted WMdy gaged in works of ffietct (Huong evicted vtetlffie ofhndlord capacity and English iaW. _ Resolved, That thia convention thanks the HL Rev. John Ireland, Bishop of Bt Paul: Rt Bev. John O’Connor, Bishop of Omaha; Rt Rev. John Lancastfif Spalding, bishop of Peoria; Most Rev, John Williams, Archbishop of Boston; Rt Rev. a V. Ryan, Bishop of Buffalo; MoMT&ev Patrick a Foehan, Archbishop of Chicago; Rt. Bes. Edward Fitzgerald, Bishop of Little Rock, and their co-laborers, for their efficient efforts in providing homes for Irish immigrants in the United States. "The people of Ireland are, by the law of God and the nation, entitled to live by their labor in thefr native land, whose fertile sofi is abundantly able to nourish them, but since the brutal Government compels large numbers to emigrate, it is the duty of their countrymen to Warn them against the snares of poverty in large cities, and assist them in the agricultural regions. Resolved, That the policy of the English Government, in first reducing the Irish peasantry to abject poverty, and then sending them penniless to the United States, dependent upon American charity, is unnatural, inhuman, and an outrage upon the American Government and people. We respectfully direct the attention of the United States, Government to this iniquity, and protest against its continuance, and instruct the officials who shall be chosen by this convention to present our protest to the President of the United States, and respectfully. but firmly, to urge upon the President that it is the duty Of the Government of the United States to decline to support the paupers whose pauperism began under, and is the fault of English misgovernment, and to demand of England that she send no more of het paupers to these spores to become a burden upon the American people. Resolved, That this convention welcomes the sturdy and Undaunted patriot and prudent custodian, Patrick Egan, Who. to protect the Land League funds from the robber hands of the English Government, voluntarily abandoned his private business and accepted a long exile in foreign lands, the integrity of whose guardianship has been certified, after a minute examination of his books, by the distingnished and independent patriots, John Dillon, the Rev. Eugene Sheehy and Matthew Harris. Grateful for his invaluable services, his country - men rejoice that they possess, on this important occasion, the advantage of his wise and experienced counsel, and are proud to welcome him to their hearts and their homes.