Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 November 1890 — O’BRIEN AND DILLON. [ARTICLE]

O’BRIEN AND DILLON.

RECEPTION TO THE NATIONALISTS AT NEW YORK, Gov. Hill, of the Empire State, Presides Over a Great Meeting Which Is Addressed by the Distinguished Advocates of Home Rule for Ireland. [New York dispatch.] The Irish Parliamentary party arrived here this afternoon and were met at the Grand Central Depot by Mayor Grant, J. J. O Donohue, Eugene Kelly and others. They were then driven to the Hoffman House, where, after dinner was served, a reception was held, Governor Hill arriving from Albany in time to participate. When the party reached the Metropolitan Opera House at 8 o’clock, fully 5,000 people had congregated there. Governor Hill presided, and among the vice presidents were Grover Cleveland, Levi P. Morton, C. M. Depew. Mayor Grant, William M. Evarts, Charles A. Dana, General Sherman, William C. Whitney, Leon Abbett, William R. Grace, Warner Miller, Carl Schurz, Noah Davis, Whitelaw Reid, John A. Cockerill, George Jones, Oswald Ottendorfer, J. I. C. Clarke, Edward L. Godkin, Collector Erhardt, Postmaster Vancott, O. B. Potter, Hamilton Fish, Jr., J. J. Coogan, Colonel Cavanagh, Norvin Green, and Elbridge T. Gerry. Governor Hill, who was introduced as the American champion of home rule, was received with great applause. The Governor cordially welcomed the delegates to the city and State. John Dillon was then introduced amid an uproar of applause. He spoke in substance as follows: The cause for which I make this appeal to the public of America is one which must commend itself to every free citizen of America. It is the claim of the Irish people to make their own •laws.— a claim to liberty and common humanity. They claim those rights and privileges which have made this country what it is to-day. In»1885, when 103 Irish members were sent to Parliament, eighty-five of them were sent to support our cause, and now the English Government insists on governing our country in the face of the opposition of these eighty-five men. They will deny these rights for which your fathers fought. They would reduce the country to the condition of Russia and place her under the rule of landlords. [Hisses and howls.]

We ean say for the defense of our party that during the last ten years England has not been able to buy any one of our number. In 1880 we undertook to make an effort to free our people, and to-day we have placed in the handsof an unarmed people a mighty power. We have made them more than a match, for Balfour and his men. For ten years we have been struggling, and twenty-five of our men have been persecuted and imprisoned, but not one of them has committed an act for which he would be imprisoned in one of your States. We have been subjected to a police system the like of which is not found on this earth. Wo will soon have a policeman to every citizen. When lam home in Ireland I ain never without an escort, for my every step is watched. I, for my part, will never make an appeal for famine relief. Ido appeal that the people will stand by us in this struggle—a struggle to destroy the perennial source of famine, and set up in the Dublin Castle a government that will represent Ireland and a government that will chase from our shores that specter of famine and degradation. Mr. Dilion was greeted with prolonged cheers, ’and then Governor Hill introduced William O’Brien, who said: We Irishmen never forget that there has always been one great nation that has sympathy for us. In every struggle you have desired to assist us, and the instinct of humanity has caused you to extend your blessings to a country bound to you by so many ties. I have reason to know that every expression of American opinion exercises a growing influence over the opinion of the English people. Here you aie honored and respected’, but we come from a country where 5,000 prisoners have been treated like hogs. In a few months the vast masses will lie standing in the shadow of a famine at which Mr. Balfour has jeered. We come for a fighting fund. The landlords’ blight and the Dublin Castle blight are worse than any famine blight. The cld country of Ireland is crushed under wheels of oppression. We have said we would never beg again for a famine. We are fighting for our people, and it should be the pride of every Irishman to see that we are not defeated. We have challenged Mr. Balfour to name any instance in which he has been entirely successful against us, although he has persecuted us at every step,

A collection was then taken for the cause. It was announced that the receipts of the doors were §4;OCO. Subscriptions were called for and they swelled the total receipts of the evening to about §97,000. The following were some of the largest subscriptions: Eugene Kelly,. §1,000: Joseph O’Donohue, §1,000; Major John Byrnes, §1,000; William R. Grace, §1,000; Mayor Grant, §1,000; Henry McAleenan, §1,000; Henry D. Purfoy, §500; W. Bourke Cockran, §500; Governor Hill, §100; Colonel William Brown, §I,OOO. Thomas P. O'Connor was also received with great applause arid spoke briefly of the attempts of Balfour to suppress the Irish cause. The Americans were now striking the final blow. He predicted that the accounts of to-night’s meeting would be read all over England and Ireland to-morrow, with joy in the latter place, but with fear in England. The Irish, he said, '-ad built the fortifications of Irish liberty and the Americans were adding the pinnacle of success to their efforts at home. Resolutions Indorsing the cause of homo rule and denouncing the policy of the tory government toward Irejarid were adopted. They concluded as fellows: Hfaolvetl, That believing liome -rule—the granting ot local self-government—is the only guarantee of peace to England and , prosperity to Ireland, we bld godspeed to William E. Gladstone and Charles Stewart Parnell in their endeavors to settle on lines of equality and justice the problem that centuries of force have utterly, failed to solve; and we pledge them our active, earnest, unfaltering support until the struggle is over and the battle won. In conclusion T. D. Sullivan made a short speech, thanking the Irish-Ameri-cans for their generous offerings.