Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1887 — A STIRRING APPEAL. [ARTICLE]

A STIRRING APPEAL.

Address by the President of the Irisji National League of America. Headquarters Irish National LfaOce 1 or Amirica, > Lincoln, N«b„ March 20. \ . To the American public unu Uie Irisbmcn ot America: The corporation of Dublin, tbo metropolitan city of Ireland, has appealed to the Christian world for tho protests of hamtmity against the further persecution of the Irish people by the British Government. A time has come in the relations of Ireland and England when the laws of God and" tLe dictates of humanity -become superior to every rule of international etiquette, and demand from the morality of the world a stern denuheiation of the course about to be pursued by the Tory Government against the Irish. The voice of America should not be silent when additional outrages are about to be inflicted on a robbed and persecuted nation. British statesmen who now champion a policy of jaistice to Ireland, and .condemn coercion by the Tory Government as alike cruel and impolitic, did not hesitate to denounce oppression by the Turks in Bulgaria. Are the Irish less to America than the Bulgarians were to England, that America should hesitate to interfere in Ireland’s behalf against the cruelties of the British Government? The Irish have exhausted every means of moral nnd constitutional agitntion to recover their just and legitimate social and political rights. The voice of Scotland and of W ales nnd of the mnsß of the British democracy has sanctioned the efforts of Ireland, and proclaimed tho justice of her cause. Gladstone, Morley, Labouehere, and every English leader worthy the name of statesman have proclaimed themselves advocates of Ireland's claim to legislative independence. It is no longer the English people who oppose the restoration of Ireland’s liberties, but the aristocratic robbers who have throttled alike both Britain nnd Ireland, and have fattened for generations on public plunder with the proceeds of which they can use the lever of corruption to lilt them into power and maintain themselves there. The cause of Ireland is the cause of the British democracy, and to this fact may we attribute the bitter and unrelenting opposition of the British Tories. The Irish do not pretend to fight against the English, but against the oppressors of .both. In this struggle the Irish have done all morality can demand from an oppressed nation, and now as a last effort they ask the interference of the Christiun world to prevent their destruction. As President of the Irish National League of America, the representative body of the Irish race on this continent, I re-echo that appeal. I ask the American press and people to pass their verdict on the treatment now being meted out to the Irish people by a heartless and venomblunted Tory Government. L,et them say boldly if the Irish have not displayed ail the forbearance that human nature is capable of in their passive resistance to 6uch inhuman laws aB the British Government would force them to submit to. There is no law, human or divine, that compels a nation to passively accept annihilation, and if these British Tories are permitted to heap additional wrongs on the Irish people, despair will nerve the Irish to active resistance and wild retaliation. Tha very deer turn on their pursuers when driven to bay; and if nothing will satisfy the British Government but the destruction of the Irish people, Ireland Will be justified before God and man in selling her life at the heaviest price she can obtain, and in using every weapon the ingenuity of man can place within her reach. I ask the justice ot freedom-loving people of America to prevent this terrible consummation of British crime and misgovernment. Let the condemnation of the British Government’s policy in Ireland ring from every community on. this continent. I ask the honest and fearless press of America to sustain the efforts of Mr. Parnell and Mr. Gladstone to inaugurate a policy of justice and liberty in opposition to tho tyranny of Lord Salisbury. I appeal most forcibly to the Irish race in America to arouse themselves to immediate action. In an especial manner I address myself to those of our blood whom God has blessed with abundance to come forward and share in the burdens and sacrifices of their people. No rank or power can justify any man in refusing to identify himself with the race to which he belongs, and the man who thus shirks his duty deserves the contempt of his fellow men. With the fullest confidence in their never-failing fidelity to Ireland, I call again upon the masses of the Irish race in America to repeat the splendid generosity they have so often extended toward their struggling brethren in Ireland. Mr. Parnell says the immediate future will be a time of suffering for the Irish people. With God’s help the time will not be long; bnt, long or short, no Irishman must perish for want of Irish-American support, nnd no IrishAmerican is so poor that by self-sacrifice he cannot contribute his mite to the Irish cause. I advise the officers of the League to make redoubled efforts to increase its membership.' Every man of Irish blood in the United States and Canada should be enrolled in the League wherever it is possible, and steps should be taken to reorganize disbanded branches and establish new ones. To those of our people living on farms too remote from each other to form branches of the league, I will say that the Rev. Dr. O’Reilly, Detroit*, Mich., will receive their 6ubscriptons and promptly acknowledge the same in the public press. They have every opportunity, therefore, to share in Ireland’s struggle, and should lose no time in sending in their name and such contributions as their means will permit. In this crisis I also earnestly ask the assistance and support of the IrishAmerican press for the Irish Land League. Let us have one grand effective organization, with one heart and one voice pledged to sustain Mr. Parnell and his Irish associates with all our strength and influence in their efforts to recover the legislative independence of Ireland, aided by Mr. Gladstone and the British democracy, who strive to replace Tory oppression with the broad principles of human liberty and international justice. Yours faithfully, John Fitzgerald, President I. N. L. A.