The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1884. THE HERALD ON THE REDMOND MISSION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1178, 15 May 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1884. THE HERALD ON THE REDMOND MISSION.

Thh Australian Colonies are on the verge of ruin, according to the limaru Herald of last Monday. It is not the criminal rubbish of France that is to ruin us—it is nothing else than the Irish Land League, which is going to take complete possession of these colonies. “ Before long,” says the Herald, “ it will come out that they (the colonies) are British possessions only in name ; that the bitterest foes of the British Government have them under complete subjection, and that Federation is to be neither more nor less than a transfer of allegiance from Great Britain to the Irish Republic.” Holy St, George, of Dragon memory, save and protect us from such a calamity ; ‘ angels and ministers of grace’ (including a wouldbe Postmaster-Gsneral) look upon our helplessness in this our hour of need, and ward off this awful misfortune. The Irish National League mil make us transfer our allegiance from Great Britain to an Irish Republic, which Mr Redmond established here and Mr Michael Davitt is coming to perfect 1 It is awful, and not only awful but extraordinary ; in fact, we would not believe it only that the Timaru Herald ( has said so, and of course that paper never lies, except when it does not suit it to tell the truth. But the Timaru Herald gives reasons for making the assertion. It says that Mr Redmond said at a meeting in Dublin that he and his brother bad “ established close on 800 branches of the Irish National League in each colony. They had established a central authority. In fact, they had established a federal system of government,” The speech delivered by Mr John E. Redmond on the occasion referred to is as follows, published in The Nation

“The work which we have accomplished in Australia, I believe, will bo a permanent work, and the sums of money forwarded as the result of our labors is but a small part of the good which will accrue to Ireland from our action there. We have left a permanent organisation consisting of some 300 branches, scattered over the vast Continent of Australia, all united together by a sya-

tem of federal government, by which each individual district can take its own action in local matters, and when a crisis arises the whole of the 300 branches can act as one man. But whether we shall continue to receive their support will depend on two conditions—Hirst, that an active, vigorous, and uncompromising attitude shsll be maintained by the organisation «t Home ; and secondly, the suppression by every means in the power of the national leaders of anything in the shape of outrage and crime. (Hear hear). I am convinced more than ever, since my visit to Australia and America, that anything like crime in Ireland tends to injure the movement with the bulk of our brethren, and to alienate from us the sympathies of other nations. Therefore, if we expect to receive continued support from our brethren in Australia and America, the movement must bo conducted on uncompromising, vigorous, and determined lines, and vigorous action taken to suppress outrage or crime which might stain the cause of our country. (Hear hear). I have come back to my work in Ireland more than ever impressed with the necessity of working on the lines laid down by Mr Parnell and his party—l have come back more than ever determined to work in the cause of the people ; and from what I and my brother have seen in the several climes we have visited I am more than ever impressed with the thought that it is impossible for the present system of government to continue in the face of the growing public opinion, and that the day cannot bo far distant when a measure of home government in some shape or form will ba conceded to us. (Hear hear). Anywhere we went we found selfgoverned communities with free institutions, administered by Irishmen, although in our own country we are told that we are unfit to govern ourselves. All this will only strengthen me to proceed in my political career with energy, and, as you have acknowledged, with honesty. lam young and blessed with good health, and as long as my health lasts I am iready to work for my country both in and out of Parliament ; and I only hope it may long be my privilege to continue in the path I have entered on—to work honestly and earnestly in the service of Ireland and of the Irish people. (Applause).”

Now mark the difference. The Herald says that Mr Redmond said he had established close on 300 branches in each Colony, whereas they are scattered all over the whole of the Australian colonies 1 The Herald says they had established a system of Federal Government, whereas Mr Redmond said the branches were “ united together by a federal system of government.” He then says the only way the League at Home can secure the sympathies of their Australian brethren is by “ the suppression, by every means in the power of the National leaders, of anything in the shape of outrage or crime.” That bloodthirsty young man, whose object was “ to transfer our allegiance to the Irish Republic,” tells the people of Ireland that Irish Australians are horrified at crime, and desire that it should he put down. After all we do not think we need tremble so terribly as the editor of the Titnaru Herald do»s over the matter. Let us see how the matter stands. The Irish in the Australian Colonies are only one-seventh of the population, of this one-seventh we believe one-half does not take any interest in politics, either at Home or abroad. We have therefore only the other half to fight against, that is, we have 14 men to every Irishman that is likely to attempt to “ transfer our allegiance,” and surely none but an arrant coward—such a miserable poltroon as writes slander for the Herald and apologises for it afterwards—would admit that our position is so dangerous, We took no notice of Monday’s article (neither did anyone else) till we found the Herald again returning to the subject yesterday. Really it is sad that anyone should think fit to disturb the peaceful relations of colonists by such savage truculence,such lyingslanders, and such absolute misrepresentations. The object is quite plain, the cloven hoof protrudes through every word—the writer wants to raise a holy war against Irishmen in this colony. He calls them the bitterest enemies of Great Britain. The correspondent of the Dublin Express, the organ of the Orangemen, writing of the recent battle of Tamaneb, in the Soudan, says : “Irishmen of all parties, however they may be divided at home by politics, will read with pride and throbbing hearts the details of the battle from General Graham’s camp. There is no mistake about it. When the Second Brigade, composed of the Black Watch and the Fork and Lancaster Regiment, was broken by the fierce Arab assaults, the First Brigade—the Royal Irish Fusiliers leading- —advanced, beat the Arab warriors down, and turned defeat into a glorious victory.” The writer then tells how the Irish Regiment was on its way from India, and was stopped in Egypt. But people who think that an Irish Orange organ would overrate the prowess of tfie Irish, are referred to the Standard, the Daily News and tne Times, and they will find that both the English and <! Scotch hegiments had fled, and that General Graham was in danger of being killed only for the Irish Regiment. Mr Cameron’s account in the Standard •ays

“The York and Lancaster men gave way, throwing the Black Watch into confusion ; the square formed by the two regiments was broken up, a confused mass. The general, who was in the midst of tin’s danger, must have turned an anxious eye on the second square, which was on the right and. a little in the rear of the retreating English and Scotch regiments. Eveiy vestige of doubt must, however, have vanished, as he caught sight of the grim and bronzed faces of the Irish Fusiliers, advancing like a wall of steel, to avenge and conquer.” Mr Scudamore, for the Times, tells how the First Brigade acted at this critical juncture —“ They 1 advanced slowly, in excellent order, the rebels ’ —those who bad

just broken up the Second Brigade and captured the guns— * falling back before it, and leaving numbers lying on the ground. They passed the spot where the guns were left, and advanced to the edge of the ridge commanding the entire breadth of the valley, where they poured a murderous fire into the rebels, who were soon in full retreat.’ ’’ The correspondents of both the Daily News and Standard show that the honor of the battle belonged to the Irish Regiment who, “ as on many another deadly day, carried the Anglo-Irish flag to victory.” Here then is evidence that only for the Irish soldiers England would have been beaten in this battle, but although these facts were published in the papers of about the same date as those from which the “ transfer of allegiance ” news was got, the Herald never took any notice of it. But this is not the first occasion that the Irish won laurels for England, nor is it the first battle field on which Irish and English blncd commingled or where their graves lie side by side. Bhamo upon the cowardly Englishman who would appeal to national prejudices to hound down the brethren of the brave victors of the battle of Tamanieb. Shame and confusion to such unmanly, cowardly conduct. This article has already reached such a length that we must now be brief. The Irish National League is an institution whose object is to gain a National Parliament and other reforms for Ireland, and the object of establishing branches in these colonies is to collect money so as to carry on the agitation. It has nothing whatsoever to do with colonial politics, and to say that it has is a lie. Michael Davitt, who is coming to “ transfer our allegiance ” according to the Herald, actually proposes to hand all the land of Ireland over to the British Government. His scheme is that the British Government shall become the landlord instead of Irish landlords. The man who proposes such a thing as that has not evidently any intention of transferring his own or Ireland’s allegiance from the British Government, or if he has he is going a queer way about it. This is the point on which he differs from Mr Parnell. He is in favor of “ land nationalisation Mr Parnell favors “ peasant proprietory.” We have nothing to fear from Mr Davitt, or from anything else, except from such contemptible, cowardly, disreputable, distortion of facts as that which appeared in the Herald, We have read many a misrepresentation of the Irish people, and many an outrage on their feelings, but never yet hare we met with so senseless, so groundless, so atrocious an attack as that in the Herald. But people are not so idiotic as to take any notice of the matter, and the Herald’s appeal to Englishmen’s prejudice against Irishmen will not have the desired effect, Englishmen and Irishmen will still struggle side by side to advance the colony despite the Herald’s attempt to set them at leggerheads, and Irishmen will still contribute their mite towards obtaining for their native country what slip is justly entitled to,a Parliament cf her own.”