THE IRISH PARTY

New Zealand Tablet, 29 April 1915, Page 26

THE IRISH PARTY

A TRIBUTE TO MR. REDMOND’S STATESMANSHIP. % . . There was a big demonstration of National Volunteers in Belfast on March 7,, followed by a banquet in the' evening, at which the principal speaker was Mr. John Dillon, M.P. After dealing with the question of volunteering, Mr. Dillon went on to say:—l claim that no nation has ever in the history of the world given such marvellous proof of political capacity as has been given by the Irish Party and the political machine, as ic is called, on which the Irish Party rests, and from which it draws its powers and discipline, than that given during the last 37 years since the Land League was founded by the Irish Party. . Here was a body of men without political experience elected to the House of Commons, the greatest assembly in the world. .They had to face the most expert statesmen of, England and all the corrupt influences of that assembly. There is no Government in the world that has in its' power so much influence to corrupt and attack a hostile party than the British House of Commons, by office, by rewards, and by forces and influences which I need not dwell upon ; and the Irish Party, for which I now speak— is their position to-day ? Why, for years they have dominated the House of Commons, For 37 years they have stood on the floor of that House like a Macedonian phalanx of old surrounded by enemies, and for that long space of years all the power and wealth and influence of England has been unable to break our ranks, and not one single man has been reduced from the ranks of the Irish 'Party. I challenge with confidence the record' of political parties in all the countries of the world to find A Parallel to That Boast. Take the position of our leader, Mr. Redmond, to-day. Can you mention a single statesman in England who occupies a position of greater influence and power, or who commands- greater respect in the whole of the British Empire than Mr.- Redmond ? Did he win that position by truckling to hostile sentiment or English prejudice? No. He won it by fighting them honestly and squarely. To-day our leader ranks on an equal with the mightiest and most influential statesmen, and

I don’t think throughout the whole-length and breadth of the Empire there is a man who occupies" a- position of greater respect and influence than Mr. ; John Redmond. The only people in this country who are now found to throw any doubt on Mr. Redmond’s capacity, ' his. honor or honesty are the cranks in this country. Why, the very Tories in England and. our : bitterest enemies have no word of disrespect to say of him. They - , hate his policy, they dread his power but you will never hear from any Tory any hint of his being incapable of leadership or untrustworthy/ You have got to come over to Ireland to find these people, and latterly, indeed, the only spot in the Empire where the capacity and honesty and power of Mr. Redmond are questioned is by the cranks in Ireland. I think that I have as much admiration and as keen an appreciation of Mr. Redmond’s skill as a political leader as any man, and for his judgment- and his courage, which I personally have seen tested, behind the scenes and unknown to his countrymen, by circumstances as terrible as have ever tested the courage and judgment of any political • leader in, the whole history of mankind. • I don’t think there is a man living in Ireland to-day who has a keener appreciation of Mr. Redmond’s power, his judgment, and his courage than I have, or any man living who has a greater opportunity of judging him, and I am perfectly convinced that Mr. Redmond himself would be the first to admit that all his acts and all his exertions would have been entirely vain and fruitless, and that he would have been absolutely powerless to achieve any # one of the great things he has done for Ireland during the last seven years, had he not been supported by the political machine in Ireland and the discipline of his party. Break what is described as the political machine, and you break the party. Make no mistake it—the men who'attack the .political machine do so because they want to break the Party and to set free what they are pleased to call this intolerable tyranny, and to play the game our predecessors in the Irish political representation played until - They Made Parliament a Sham, as it was in the. days of my youth, when all that was manly and upright and honest politically in this country called down sham© on the Parliamentary representation and would not touch it with a forty foot pole. That was the condition of things which these men desired to see renewed in Ireland. That is the condition to which some of these gentlemen would like to see Ireland reduced, after forty years of honorable struggle, .during which we have lifted the cause of Ireland from the mire, and placed it high in the esteem of all the civilised races of mankind. But thank God the common-sense of Ireland and the political intelligence of Ireland is far too great, and has had far many bitter experi- . ences to, tolerate for a single moment sijch insane faction as is manifested in the proceedings of these gentlemen. ' I appeal here to-night to the people of Ireland I know I shall appeal with confidence to the Nationalists of Belfastthat until the Irish Parliament is estab-, lished in power, and until the authority of that Parliament is recognised unchallenged in every corner and parish of Ireland, to stick by the machine, and treat every man who endeavours, on whatever plea, to smash that machine as • An Enemy of the Cause of Ireland. ' . The English people are a slow people to learn, and they never had the smallest notion of the power of the Irish race until they got into this war. The very first thing they did when they got into this war was to see where America stood, and they have-come to .see and to realise, as they never did before, what the power of the Irish race was in America, and the power of the German race in America, and to realise that if they had the Germans and the Irish against them, then America was against them. Then they began to realise that the value of Irish friendship was. They realised that though we might be held down by brute force in Ireland, we had resources* outside Ireland, and for the first time now every Englishman understood what it meant to England in this great hour of her danger —and she was in terrific*

danger in the early months of this war—what it meant to 1 England that the Irish in America were not solid with, the Germans against them.. There is no doubt there was a section 1 in America who could not forget and could not forgive. ‘ None of us can forget, but it is the duty of wise politicians and sensible men to forgive when you get cause to forgive— we have got cause. lamin a position to announce to you to-night that I have been in close correspondence with the Irish in l America since this war commenced,, and I am in a position to assert without any fear of its being proved that I am —with absolute confidence—that the overwhelming majority of the Irish in America are with Mr. Redmond in the policy he is pursuing.