OCR Text |
Show 1 Maud Qonm 4- " "The Irish Joan of Arc" t Uisits Boston Miss Maud Gonne lectured in the Tre-mon.t Tre-mon.t Theatre, Boston, on Sunday evening. even-ing. Feb. IS, on the South African war and was given a most cordial greeting: by the big audience, numbering something some-thing like 2.000 person.-;. The theatre was tissu-f'.:l y dec rated with red, wi it? and blue bumt.ing on the upper balcony, ami green and white bunting around the lower balcony. The ftage was one mas-s of bunting. Large oil portraits nf President Kruger and General Joubert were placed at the back of the atage sotting, and were surrounded with th Beer flag, the Stars and Stripes and the colors of Ireland. Prominent gentlemen gentle-men occupied seits on the stage. In the early part of the evening a concert was rendered. : The chairman of the committee of ar- I raiigements. Patrick A. Foley, after the j musical programme, introduced Hon. ! Thomas J. Gargan as chairman of the meeting, in place of William Lloyd Gar. rifion, who was compelled to remain at his home because of illness. This is the Pilot's report of his sperch: Mr. Gargan said: "To quote the clewing clew-ing words of a recent, editorial in the Boston Heraid, I claim to be 'an Amer- . ; 1 1 ; V-S''' i r 3 1 Ci ' i J . r y f 4 1 j -&. Mfe. f ;vi 3-w ; Maud G-cnne Addiesing Sleeting j In Boston. I ican, first, last and a.ll the time, and nothing else.' I therefore take exception excep-tion to the statementt of the writer of : the editorial in Friday's Herald, enti-' enti-' tied 'American Sentiment.' in which he j refers to our distinguished guest. Mies J Gonne, and in which he claims that j American citizens of Irish birth or blood cannot speak impartially on the South African question, because it is a question where England is a party concerned. con-cerned. "The difficulty on this question is nt with the American crtizens of Irish blood, but with the writers of such editorials. edi-torials. While I admit that the management man-agement of the Boston Herald do not always entertain the views of their editorial edi-torial writers, yet a majority of the people in. this community are amazed that the Herald, usually sane oh most questions, seems to .be unable to discuss dis-cuss the Boer question impartially. It is evident to the most superficial reader that the writer or writers of such editorials, edi-torials, whether English by birth of or Englinh parentage, or, worse still, of tha.t class of men who have fallen to a lower depth than the man without a country, the Anglophile, who is ashamed asham-ed of his country, and whose country despises him, are not accustomed to weigh evidence, and prefer to be governed gov-erned by their prejudices, scorning un. controverted facts. "I declare here as an American proud of my Irish bxd. if the nation were Russia, Germany or France, that made an attack upon the South African Re-i Re-i public in violation of the dearest rights ' guaranteed by . the treaty of 1884, I would condemn either of those nations as severely as I condemn Eng'rand for this unnecessary and unjust war now being waged by England against the Transvaal Republic. "In this great caise of the Boer Republic Re-public vs. the 'British Empire now on trial before the great tribunal of public opinion in ' this country, ve need not cite a single witness of Irish blood; we need only place upon the stand James Bryce, John Morley, Sir William Har-court, Har-court, Henry Labouchere, and I might call a long list of distinguished Englishmen English-men on the liberal side of politics, but if the editorial writer objects to these eminent Englishmen as biassed by their political opinions. I am willing to rest the whole case on the testimony of Sir Edward Clarke, solicitor general in a former cabinet of Lord Salisbury, whc3 position enabled him to study and understand un-derstand . the Boer' question: a Tory member of Parliament, who has applied ap-plied fcr the Chiltern Hundreds because he cannot conscientiously support a pohcy which he believes was unnecessary unneces-sary and ,a war .which he believes to be unjust and iniquitous. "Can there be any question what the verdict .of '- the American people would be with Jce Chamberlain on one side and Sir Edward Clarke on the other? Can there be any question of Mr. Clarke's knowledge of the facts or his ability to weigh evidence? a gentleman who, since the elevation of Sir Charles Rutrsell to tlhe lord chief justiceship, stands the acknowledged leader of the Eneiish bar. "The whole question in a nutshell is, shall an independent nation be allowed ,( ' to ruvern its-!f nr .-diall it b" cruehd : by brute fVrcr-'.' "To that quriti.i;i, n: with: and im; j the cowardice f the administration , j an.! it.i L-e rt-Uun i.-T-.-itaniliPS;' with Great j Britain, th-- ureat majority f tii- Am-i Am-i erica n people ph under forth the answer: 'This independent republi.- niielu to I govern iisejf.' and cry from tivir i hear!.-'. "God hit.-! you, Paul Kruger, I may the God ,,f batths strengthen your arm and help you maintain atrd per-! per-! petuate the South Afrieart republi,':' " j Mr. Gargan th-Ti introduced Miss Gonne. who ispoke in part as follows. I "one of the great f.vt crimes that the world has ever witties-M is being per-: per-: pt-t rated. A vast empire i endeavoring to dt'.-'.fi.iy th" liberty atut independ-j independ-j ence of two free republiis. Without a j shadow of justification or right, guide I only by her liu for gold and diamonds, j England has forced war upon the whit.; j races in South Africa. "One of the strongest proof..-: ,f the righteousness of the Boer cause is that there are lovers of liberty from every country almost in the world who are ifightin.g as 'volunteer in th. ranks of rhe Boer army. Vou all know that the Boer artillery is .pointed by Gt-rmans that the guns that ar" being used thrf were bought, in France and that thero are over H50 French officers giving all their skill and military scien- on tin? side of liberty. We see German.-" and Scandinavians. Frenchmen and Irishmen, Irish-men, and Americans, too. hope, right- ir-.g out there for the cause or ,'iherty. Every American who delights in tht; w onderful I eclara t ion of 1 ndept ndenee must nectvs-arily be on Uhe ide of thj Boers in that struggle, the same struggle strug-gle as yours, against that old vanquished van-quished tjrant. England. "There is a duty which devolves upon every civilized nation.' especially upon thi ?e nations which sent their representatives repre-sentatives to the peace congress. If I they cannot in'erefere to stop the war, i they Hhoiitd at !ea;it see that all the ! ru'uri of vvhi" are o'os-rved. England I ht'.- violar.d all the rules of war. She ! mastered women an 1 children at Ob-I Ob-I dot-man. She intended to do the same 1 with the Bot rs. Bef.-ie the war in Lori. lot. I. he..,-.l an Englishman boat-I boat-I ir.g: V.'e wiU treat :.i- Soer- as we tr--i.tte.l th- PerviMhfs. They snail hav.j i a last.- 'of 'idurm:)i'i.' -I ".It is a source of pride and joy each of us to know- ttiat th-re is an i Irish brigade fightir.g for truth and : justice on th-- side of the Boers. It ; consul. -s us for the shame and disgrace; I of knowing that there are Irish regi-j regi-j ments in the service of England wear-1 wear-1 ing the hateful red badge of their ser-' ser-' vitude. That Ir.sh brigade was organ-I organ-I iz-d by a noble fellow -countryman of j i.nu -1. Major Jehu McBride. It Is eorn- manded by Colonel Blake, a graduate ! of West Point. After is organization its number swelled until it reached ' 2,000. then suddenly we heard that it I numbered 3.0n. and I know you will ! be amused to hear that it was the i Queen of England w ho paid for the i journey of that last thousand Irish-I Irish-I men. the brigade has taken part in i s- vetcl batt'f - and has taken part in j mented for distinguished services by ! General Joubert. We may well be ! proud of this. j "So great is England's need of soldiers, sol-diers, and so great is her difficulty in getting them, that her re-.-ruiting sergeants ser-geants are now searching the work- houses throughout England and Ire-1 Ire-1 land. I was in the hospital of a North i Dublin workhouse some three months j ago. visiting a por sick man, and two j recruiting sergeants came in while I i was there to see if. among the inmates of the hospital, there were not. some re- serve men who would be well enough to go out to South Africa, and they I seized upon two unfortunte fellows.' j The English do nt make good soldiers. They are obliged to get others to do their fighting for them. In the past. I am sorry to say, Irishmen have too often of-ten fought and won their battles for them. "The Boers are beating the vast English Eng-lish empire. Thy have destroyed forever for-ever her boasted greatness, the falsehood false-hood of her greatness on which she has lived and traded all those years. The time may come soon when Ireland will have a chance to strike a decisive blow for freedom. I believe th? beginning of the end of the British empire is at hand. Fellow-countrymen, Irishmen, be ready." At the conclusion of Miss Gonne's address ad-dress a set of resolutions tendering sympathy and support to tb Boers, hailing with pride their successes, expressing ex-pressing sympathy with Miss Gonne in her mission of organizing a hospital corps for the Boers, congratulating the Irish party on being again united, and appealing to the young men of Ireland not to enlist in th ? British army, were unanimously adopted. At the Vendome, where Miss Gorino stopped while in Boston, in the after, neon a delegation of some fifty, including includ-ing representatives of the Irish-American societies of Beaton, and members of the Ladies' Auxiliary of the local A. O. H. organizations called on her. Th-s visitors were all peraonally presenter!. The spokesman was Dr. P. J. Tim-mins, Tim-mins, whose address was as follows: It is my privilege and pleasure, ini the name of the Irish-American societies so-cieties of Beaton, to welcome you to our city on this your second m'is.-Vr in the interest of humanity and free dom. On your first visit you pleaded eloquently the cause of our suffering motherland, and your noble efforts, continued after your return to Ireland, were largely instrumental in checking the advance" of the dread spectre of famine. This time you come to plead the cause of a people differing from our own in blood and religion, but dear to us as brothers, because the tyrant who j has blasted our motherland is trying I to crush out their national life also. t May God make strong enough the arms of the Boers to shatter in pieces the chains England has been forging for them, and to cripple her so that all j the races now enslaved by her may J soon be able to regain their freedom. The Boston Herald has given you credit for having the "honesty" of I your convictions, but it advises us to judge of "international matters from the'stancipoint of American interest ( 9 saea. uo panunuoo) . ! JMI GdE'VISITS BOSTON (Continued from Fas;e 1.) ! This is sound advice, but it would have ( more weight if the Herald did net an often lead us to believe that its own interna tior.-al policy is dictated more by Knglirfh than American interests. Thisj is par excellence the age of imira-! imira-! tion. Therefore, it behooves those who j dwell in high places, so to shape their 1 own conduct that they give the right exampJe. Preaching is never effective unle.-s it is supported by practice. Journals which are constantly reminding remind-ing us that "blood is thicker than water." and that our cousins dwell beyond be-yond the sea should not wonder that we are quickened by their suggestions. Irish families are known to be creditably credit-ably large. We too have couains. But the Herald assumes too much when ft nays that in our hostility to England we "are actuated bv the re-' re-' membrar.ee of old grievances." If our "grievances" wore merely a thing of Che pa:, we too might call the English Eng-lish our cousins. We might even forget for-get there a battle of the Boy ne and Join our neighbors in erecting on ity banks a monument to King WilMam especially now that we appreciate the transcendant valor of his blood. But unfortunately our grievances ejrint for I us still. The wrongs inflicted by William Will-iam and the other instruments of Eng-, Eng-, land have n -t been righted to the pres-, pres-, ent day. The Iruh question remains, j for he reason that its causae has not j yet Feen removed. Some change has : taken place. The Dutch were with , England in the past. They are asraimit j hot- now. This is why the Dutch and the Irhh ere together today. Every man who love justice and 1 whcee eyesight w not affected by Eng-1 Eng-1 lMh-rr.ade glasses, must be heart and soul with the heroic farmers of South Africa. Their gallant fight as your mission her" proves, hac eniisted even the help of beauty and genuis? and virtue. vir-tue. Should auyone think that the gentler eex ought not to mix up in the affairs of war we point to the fact that (because it is the fashion here to discredit dis-credit many things solely because tlhey take place under Irteh auspices) England Eng-land set the example by sending to our shores her own advocate stamped with the approval cf royalty. We may also take to ourselves the credit that now ae of old "On our side is virtuo and Erin On theirs in the Saxon and guilt." Miff? Gonne made a brief, appreciative appreciat-ive reply. |