Home Rule Demonstration in Sydney

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 33, 17 August 1905, Page 5

Home Rule Demonstration in Sydney

As we were briefly informed by cable message at the time, a great mass meeting, to bid farewell to Mr. W. K. Redmond, M.P., and to inaugurate the Home Rule Tribute from Australia, was held in the Town Hall, Sydney, on Friday evening, July 28. The Town Hall, which can accommodate between five and six thousand persons, was crowded shortly after sc\en o'clock, although the meeting was announced for eight. Not to disappoint the late arrivals an overflow meeting was held in the extensive basement of the hall, which was presided over by Arch^Sshop Kcfly. and was addressed by Mr. Redmond, Sir William Manning, and others. At a few minutes to eight (says the ' Freeman's Journal ') «fais Eminence the Cardinal, Mr. Redmond, M.P., Archbishop Kell/, and others appeared on the platform, and were accorded a rousing welcome. Scarcely was his Eminence seated with Mr. Redmond on his right, than the tall figure of Mr. Andrew Mack strode briskly to the fiont of the stage. The house rose to him as one man and cheered. They cheerod an Irish cheer that shook the building. Bowing towards the chair, Mr. Mack acknowledged the welcome with a sweep of his right arm, and as soon as the last echo of the jTaudits had died away, his yoke burst forth into the strains of ' The minstrel boy.'

Lieutenant-Colonel Freehill, one of the hon. secretaries of the Home Rule Tribute, lead an apology for absence fiom Mr. Allen Taylor, Lord Mayor of Sydney, who had promised to preside-. A serious business matter had unexpectedly called Mr. Taylor out of town for some days. He expressed his deep regrets at being unable to tale the chair and hoped the committee would not be inconvenienced. The duties of chairman, in conscience, fell upon his Eminence Cardinal Moran. Some time was swallowed in reading subscriptions, and tho specchmatking was prolonged until past eleven o'clock.

Correspondence

The correspondence was of interest. There was a letter from Colonel J. 11. P. Murray, Chief Judicial Otticer of British New Guinea. He enclosed £5. The next letter was from the Hon. J. A. Tole, Auckland, enclosing a subscription. 'It is worth reading, every word of it,' declared the hon. secretary, when he camte to a. letter from the corresponding secretary of tho Hibernian A. C. Benefit Society (Mr. J. L. Sutton). It enclosed £100 as a first instalment from the Hibernians of Victoria. The lion. A. J. Thynne, M.L.C., wrote from Brisbane that Queensland would do her full share towards the Tribute. Senator Keating was unable to come from Melbourne because the Senate business detained him. Dr. O'Dcnncll wrote for the United Irish League of Melbourne. There was a tremendous outburst of applause as the apology of Mr. J. C. Watson, M.11.1i, leader of the Federal Labor Party, was read. The accomplishment of Home Rule would, he saidj^ greatly assist the harmonious consolidation of the Empire. His Lordship Dr. Gallagher, Bishop of Goulburn, wrote a cordial letter of encouragement* to the old cause. Mr. Octavius 0. Beale, President of the Combined Australian Chambers of Manufactures, wrote upholding the principle of Home Rule for Ireland and Scotland as the best means of restoring the people to the land and revivmg the manufacturing prosperity of tho towns. The Bishop of Maitland (Dr. Murray) wrote that) he could not understand how any Australian would deny to Ireland the rigiit of Home Rule. Bishop Delany said there were very few Australians who were not in entire sympathy with Home Rale. Bishop O'Connor (Armidale) regretted his inability to be present). lie gladly urged tho indisputable right of Ireland to selfgovernment, and enclosed £10.

The Speeches

The o-pening words of his Eminence lifted the Irish question above the level of party politics or sectional contention. lie pointed to the words of the greatest statesman of the Victorian era in support of the restoration of self-government to Ireland, of which she was robborl l^y a corrupt and unrepresentative legislature which formed a Union based upon crime. He showed that the deeds forming part of the price by which that corrupt Union was purchased were still preserved in the archives of the land These deeds which gave landed title to the traitors are still preserved, the equivalent of the Judas siilver. They are part of the enormous price paid for the majority that carried the Union in the corrupt Irish Parliament which was not a Parliament irii any representative sense, seeing that no Catholic could enter it, nor many incorruptible Protestants for that matter. In beautiful language his Eminence set forth the undying attachment of Erin to her lost liberty.

The address of Mr. W. H. K. Redmond was a masterpiece of advocacy of the caus|e of Ireland. In words that would carry conviction to the most sceptical or indifferent he brushed aside the stock arguments against an Irish Parliament, and made tbe well-worn Tory platitudes look pretty cheap when he had done with them. With sweeping logic he "brushed aside the cobwebs of misunderstanding and misconception which have long clung to the mouldering halls of musty Conservatism. He demolished 1 bogey after bogey— the disruption of the Emipire bogey, the "Rome Rule ' bogey, and all the other ancient gags that have been utilised to prop the rotten cause of bureaucratic mis-government in Ireland. And withal he held his audience in rapt attention, and rous«ed them to enthusiasm as point after point was driven home. In his second address, acknowledging the vote accorded him, Mr. Redmond swept his audience oft their feet with the fire of his eloquence. Altogether he excelled himself. Nor was his speech devoid of racinesg-. Here and there he gave a touch of Irish politics that appealed to the fighting blood. An encounter with an Oranjgjo drumming P,arty in Fennarnagh was entertaining. He satirised the lip-loyalists who are always threatening the throne and dragging the King's name into party politics.

The sipeech.es of the Hon. John Hughes, M.L.C., and Dt. Warren seemed to compass, the hall, and were particularly in excellent accord with the spirit and sentiment of his Eminence and Mr. Redmond. And his Lordship Coadjutor-Bishop Dwyer made a speech which set a good example for brevity, and was otherwise admirable as coming from an Australian born.

At the close of his principal speech, Mr. Redmond was called to address the overflow meeting in the lower hall. Meanwhile Col. Frechill kept announcing the donations while the collectors got to work among the audience. Sums- ramgang from £100 to five schillings were read' out. At the overflow meeting, which opened ■at 8.30, his Grace the Cbadjutor-Archbishop of Sydney (Most Rev. Dr. Kelly) presided. Besides Mr. Redmond, the speakers were Sir William Manning, Hon. John Hughes, M.L.C, Vice-President of the Executive Council, and the Hon. John Meagher, M.L.C. At the conclusion of Mr. Redmond's speech " Mr. John Hughes, M.L.C, Vice-President of the Executive Council, moved the following resolution :—: —

' That this meeting of citizens of Sydney, in the Commonwealth of Australia, in the interests of the Empire, affirms the desirability of the recognition of the right of Ireland to self-government as enjoyed by the States of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, and the province of New Zealand, and pledges itself to support the Federal Home Rule Tribute movement inaugurated by his Eminence Cardinal Moran at a public meeting on March 17, 1905, in aid of the aspirations of the people of Ireland and the National Irish members of the House of Commons under the leadership of Mr. J. E. Redmond, M.P. ; and further pledgees the people assembled to support bytevery mean® the petition to the people of Great Britain, in Parliament assemfWed, to grant to Ireland that mea-sure—self-government—which has been so conspicuously successful in Australia ; and 'desires that the foregoing be expressed by a resolution of the Parliament of this Common wealth, and transmitted to the Imperial Parliament.'

Mr. Frank M'Donnell, M.L.A., seconded the motion, which was supported by the Right Rev. Dr. Dwyer, Coadjtutor-Bisrtop of Maitlaiul, and carried amid cheers.'

Mr. John Meagiher, M.L.C , moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Redmond.

Dr. Warren seconded, and Dr M'Carthy supported, the vote, which was heartily accorded.

Mr. Redmond briefly responded, and proposed a \ote of thanks to Cardinal Moran, which was supported by Mr. O'Sullivan, and briefly acknowledged by the Cardinal.