Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1890 — WELCOME TO IRISHMEN. [ARTICLE]

WELCOME TO IRISHMEN.

MR. O’BRIEN AND HIS FRIENDS HEARTILY GREETED. I The Irifth Delegation to Solicit Funds in Aid of Their Distressed Country Reaches New York—Mr. O’Brien Talks of the Purpose of Their Trip to America-Their Flight from Tipperary. ' ' 1 [New York dJspatch.] William O’Brien, John Dilion, Timothy Harrington, and T. D. Sullivan have arrived in New York by the steamer La Champagne. They wore met down tho bay by a large delegation of Irishmen on board the, tugboat John E. Moore, which was chartered by the Irish societies of the city of New York. Mr. O’Brien in response to congratulations upon his escape from the British authorities in lieland said Mr. Dillon and himself had been six days bn-a yacht before they reached France. They were joined at Havre by Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan and Mr. Harrington, who sailed with them. Mr. Sullivan was very enthusiastic at the prospects of home rule for Ireland. Mr. O’Brien said thatbut of the forty by-elections hold in Great Britain since the assembling of the present Parliament fourteen had boon won by the Gl&dstonian or Home Rule party. This was a fair indication, ho said, of tho feeling of tho British people on the home rule question. He believed the Tories would be forced to dissolve Parliament sooner than they anticipated. Tho Government, he said, was not taking proper measures for the relief of the famine-stricken districts in Ireland. " They first denied that a famine existed, and now they admitted that there was deep distress ip the country by proposing measures for their relief. Mr. O’Brien stated that there was absolute unity In the ranks of the Parliamentary party and among the people. The old taunt of Instability of purpose could no longer bo thrown at Ireland. It was unnecessary to say much about his and Mr. Dillon’s reasons for leaving Ireland in the peculiar manner they did. They were well watched by police and spies, and their footsteps were being continually dogged while In the country. When they took » special train at Limerick the police took another special train in order to keep them continually in sight. The Conduct of the police was ludicrous as well as outrageous. Yet they were caught napping. Neither bribes nor threats induced any one to tell the police of their departure, and Balfour’s system of espionage was wasted. “The Government cannot trust its own servants,"continued Mr. O’Brien. “Why, on the day before wo were arrest 'd Mr. Dillon wrote to me informing me what was going to take place, although it was upposod to bo a Castle secret. Balfour may attempt to brant} us as criminals, but would ho try to havd us extradited as such either from France or the United States? “Balfour has stated his Intentions very plainly in a speech in the House of Commons. His object is to strain tho tenants’ defense fund until hp breaks IL Seven thousand persons have been evicted and £60,000 have been spent.” Mr. O’Brien then said that in view of all the circumstances, the condition of the peasantry and the hostility of tho Government to any plan that would better their condition, ho and his colleagues decided to appeal to the American people and state their appeal in person. They had believed that while the appeal on their trial was ponding they would have time to come to this country and return. “Tho essence of Tory policy in Ireland,” ho continued, “is land purchase on tho landlords’ own terms. To effect this the tenants’ combination had to be stamped out. Tho tonants once smashed and disorganized, under terror of coercion, a cabinet of landlords and landlord tribunals could arrange the rest at will. It was with a view to crushing the tenants'combinations that all the prosecutions, batonlngs and police outrages took place, and it was to provertt that that the Irish representatives-camo hero. “The whole strength of coercion for tho last four years had been directed to inflicting vengeance uppn them, and utterly exterminating them by way of warning to the rest of the Irish tenantry. The Irish people, on the other hand, have made those men’s cause their pwn. They have determined at all hazards not to let them fall a prey to the Vengeance’ of the landlords and coercionlsts. The latest and most signal proof of this determination is the caw of New Tippera- - ry, where' the population of a whole town and of two neighboring estates had given up their homesand farmsen masse rather than let their rents bo used by their landlords. “One of our chief objects in America will be to explain the character of the struggles In Ireland and the system of coercion in force there. I believe Americans will bo electrified when they hear the story of Tipperary. For the present the question of a national fighting fund and the question of a charitable fund are wholly separate. Nobody with less than Mr. Balfour’s capacity for heartless jokes could affect to deny or make light of it. “The Irish party are watching the Situation with the utmost solicitude. They have called for a" bill suspending evictions for non-payment of rent oh small holdings in the distressed districts. A measure of this kind combined with a large system of public wishes and a more liberal administration of the poor laws would go far to avert any danger of general famine. The opinion of the Irish party is that any general American fund poured into Ireland at this time would probably have the effect of confirming Mr. Balfour in bls policy of leaving the relief of distress to private initiative and afterwards boasting that the distress was imaginary, while the large sums disbursed with an imperfect knowledge of the circumstances of the country would inevitably find their way into the pockets of the landlords, whom the prospect of American alma would encourage to extort rent from their famished and coercion-wronged tenantry.” William Waldorf Astoi:, notwithstanding his immense property interests in New York, cabled from Europe hi:i refusal to contribute any money to secure the benefits of honest municipal government. Mr. Astor is too much engaged with his novel, for which he is to receive five cents a word, to take any Interest in reform. Stephen Roach, son of the shipbuilder, says his family are ready to sell their plant on the Delaware to an English Sndicate for 83,030,000, the offer of ,000,000 not being satisfactory.