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Show j STORMY. TIMES IN IRELAND. Irish. Leader Makes This Prediction As to Effect of Coercion. (Hon. William H. K. Redmond, M. P.) "We have been successful in our American campaign beyond our high-j high-j est hopes," said Hon. William H. K. ! Redmond, representative of the Irish .' parliamentary party, to a member of j the Catholic Mirror's' staff. "I and Mr. Devlin are indeed pleased with the re-I re-I ception which our race in America, and (indeed the people generally, have ac-I ac-I corded us wherever we have gone, and 1 with the friendly interest which men of j all creeds and affiliations have manifested mani-fested in the Irish cause; which we came here to advocate. ! "In the three and' a half months we have spent in this country, jointly and separately, we have addressed l-!0 meetings, and it has been a source of j satisfaction to us, as it must be to all sincere friends of Ireland, that the cause we represent has won us a hearty reception from the leading public men of all the places we have visited. We have met with kindly favor, too, from church dignitaries and the favorable sentiments of archbishops and bishops has lent strength to our cause. "In some of the larger cities we visited vis-ited we spoke to audiences of from 6,000 to 7,000 people, and the average audience at our meetings, which have been held from the seaboard to Omaha, has been at least 2,000 persons. We came to present the programme of the United Irish league and to firmly establish es-tablish this organization not to collect funds, although we shall later look to the league for assistance to carry on our work. Nevertheless, we have received re-ceived some money. I myself received 10,000. which I forwarded to Mr. T. IJ. Fitzpatrick, the treasurer, at Boston. "We organized at least one branch in every place we had a meeting. In Philadelphia Phil-adelphia we formed nine branches in four days. Yes, we have accomplished the work which we were sent to America." Amer-ica." Mr. Redmond was asked as to the probable effect of the proclamation of the coercion act in Ireland, and emphatically em-phatically declared it would have none on the. people, so determined were they. "If it has any effect it will be to cement ce-ment this union oftmrDose and their strength of resolve more to carry out the plans of the league. The government govern-ment is foredoomed to failure. What Gladstone failed to do under favorable circumstances, Salisbury may not accomplish ac-complish with all the fates against him. The government will be forced to retreat, and the end will be concessions con-cessions to our programme. There will be stormy times during the application of the coercion act just as there were when the act of 1887 was first put in force. We may expect resistance, on the part of the Irish people, and the prisons will be filled with their leaders. These things will bring us sympathy. Indeed, we have the sympathy already of the enlightened Intelligence of England. Eng-land. Sueh men as Morley and Bryce believe in our cause, and we have the co-operation of the ables and most honest hon-est section of Gladstone's followers. I look for a solid advance of our cause as the only result of coercion, and I base this conviction upon the experience of the past, when every concession has been preceded by harsh and restrictive measures." . |
