ROBERT EMMETT'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT BROOKLYN. (From, the Brooklyn Daily Standard.)

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2006, 16 May 1885, Page 2

ROBERT EMMETT'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT BROOKLYN. (From, the Brooklyn Dail y Standard .)

Till- Ktiiiu >t (in, nd, of l»r.iokl\n, cole Inated " Kmuift s D.iv" .it the Yt!u>n,i>iun with a most successful enteit.uument. c.m-si-ting nf addi esses, lecit.itioti-, .mil ni>tiunuMit.il .uid vdt'il sdloi. An introductory .nidi «'-»-. l>> Counulloi •'. -L K"uj:lit dpiiH-d the exeicisps of tlio e\ filing. Following cviii 1 the liish melody "Kiui, Oh Enn, liv Mr 1?. M. Biowne. l'iofis>oi M Knoy cnt( i tamed tlio audience with .i selection of lush .iii-i on the bag pipe-.. Mi-> M. Moan, a young uiisk of ten mmm ful lowed w ith the pi.iiidfoiti 1 "-old " Weai mi( df tlio (.'iteii. ' The <)ppl.m-«i> which followed tin-. rtudcnng was deafening. Aft-i .i \oc.il Mold, "Kirn, My Cduntiv, byMwsJselhe A. W.i'Vi, the oiatdi df the evening, the Hon. (,ind Ov suspect).!. M. Wall was uitioduced, and O'» his appeal ance the house rang with ehei Ts and applause. He spoke subst.ni ti.illy a.s follow i«:— "Whitis an oiation '!'' I asked of the deputition who waited upon me t<> speak lieie this evening. " Well." mkl the spokesin m, " I think it means tli.it \ou should give us a good s]M}pch — tli it yon should say something stioiip." My idea of ,<u (nation is a little difleieut, but especially of ;ui oiation on Kobeit Kniinet. 1 think it should lcpicspnt u croud speech, and be— not soniethinof .stronpr, but soniethmjj tine. If what is said be tine, I c.no not whethei it i« strong or weak. If what is sitid be honest, I care not how it is received. If what is said to be imp.xrti.il, I le.ue it to upiijrht men to judgo, aud, judging, to resohe. Wlien wo talk to men we touch their scn«e, their undetstindmg. When we appeal to men we awake then conscience — we arouse in them a sense of justice, and hope to airay them on the side of licrht. Wo cannot leach these ends if uet-peuk falsely ; we can if we speak the ti uth. Emmet ! Oh, the memories winch ate inseparable from that name ! 1803 ! Faster than spring tinu 1 shower-, comes thought on thought oi oui eternal stiuggles for libeity. We ln\e been and are subdued; conqueied -ne\ei ' Wo .u e htruorgliiig to-day for success as powoi fully, perhaps as effectually, as in the past. The whole world recognises this, and the \yholu wot Id will lie with or ag.uu-it us just in piopoittou as we are likely to succeed ot to fail. (Applause.) The world saluteK huccess. If Hmmet had wucceeded the English would lia\c applauded him as a bia\e man and a hero. If Washington had fa il< d they would ha\e derided his uipiuoiy. Lord Kiskine wwta to Washington, "You am tin' only being for whom I ha\e an awful leserence.'" Veiy nice of Lord Kiskino— but you must i collect that th« "awful ie\etenco" only after the Union Jjck had been torn down from e\ery flagstaff m this Republic. (Applause.) What matters it, therefore, \i liar the \\ hole world may think about our struggle ? Let us stn\e foi success as biavely as did Kniinet. This will lead to \ietoiy. Victoiy will bring us fellowship among the nation". Robert Emmet was a simple soldier of liberty, who died that Ireland might h\e>; arid lie w.i* hanged by the English in Dublin in ISO 3, and then beheaded— for these English never do things by halves. He was 25 yeais old when the English lunged him, being born in Dublin in 1778. FlOlll the beguiling a puio sense of duty impelled him, and he never falteiod. "I shall stuve for the libeUy of this land, not in power, not in profit, but 111 the glory of the achievement." This was a noble motto indeed. You know there was a rebellion in Ireland in 1798, which failed. Everybody knows what an unsuccessful lebelhon mean.. Not mercy, not refoim, not statesmanship followed. Vengeance ! was the cry. The doings of I Elizabeth and of Cromwell weie enacted over again. No public meeting was permitted. Ansemblies of the people were dispei sed. Tho Pi-ess was silent. The Fiench fleet which came to our aid was scatteied by the wind. Martial law was in foice. You know what that means? Ido ; for I felt its effects myself in Ireland for exeicising tho responsible functions of .1 new spaper editor. The English Pasha at the tune was a in.vi of mdc addles-), and veiy forbidding exteiior, who like ln.s piedocessoi.s, did all things foi the glory of God, and the good of lieland. His name was liuckshot Foister (prolonged hisses). Ireland, at the timo of Emmet had 5,000,000 people ; England had 8,000,000. Ii eland liv* now 4,500,000 • England 2(>,000,000. But, God bless you, the King can do no wrong. Lord Spencer can do no injustice. The Speaker then refened in detail to Emmet and dwelt pathetically on the singular beauty of his famous speech in the dock, concluding with an eloquent and touching pet oration. The enteitainment closed w ith the singing of " God Save lielmd," by Mr Robert E. Blown and Miss M. Robinson.

L<mi> DalhouMi', .--peaking at IJrechin, said that during the pist htty years the wliolo tone of society had changed, and this was greatly dm- to the nnoids of i soiouue on the old fashioned modes of jiving and thinking. He lamented that in hid youth he got so much Latin and (iieek, and so little science and geneial literature. It would he scarcely piopcr to call SanFrancisco a moial city. In fact, a local journalist saya it is " about as liad us it can be." Dining the ye.ir ISS4 there wore nincty-thiee suicides,, of which twelve were women, and the murders averaged one a fortnight ; while the Courts granted three hundicd and unity two divorces, mostly for desertion, intemperance, and cruelty.