Liam Mellows by Conor McNamara;

Author:Conor McNamara; [Неизв.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788550802
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 2)
Published: 2019-07-29T20:00:00+00:00

7. ‘Never in the whole history of Ireland has there been such a time’, Central Opera House, New York, 5 January 1919

Organised under the auspices of Clan na Gael to celebrate the Sinn Féin victory in the 1918 general election, the three newly elected Sinn Féin TDs based in New York, Mellows, Patrick McCartan and Diarmaid Lynch, spoke to a packed audience, with hundreds unable to gain entrance.32 The meeting was organised with just three days’ notice and proceedings were opened by Judge Daniel Cohalan, followed by the customary rendition of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’, and prayers, before Mellows addressed the audience. Other speakers included the Irish writer Pádraic Colum, with John Devoy concluding proceedings.

The dividing line, at least in Ireland, between MIP (Member of the Irish Parliament) and RIP has been a rather narrow one. We have met tonight to congratulate the people of Ireland on the wonderful victory they have gained, in expressing in no uncertain voice, their opinion regarding the future of their own country. They have exercised, in so far as lay within their power, the rights of self-determination and they have determined that Ireland shall and must be free and independent. The victory they have gained is a wonderful victory, and can be gauged best by comparing the Ireland of a few years ago with the Ireland of today. The Ireland of a few years ago, the slavish Ireland, the downtrodden Ireland is gone, and gone forever. The voice, the real voice of Ireland, has broken through the ring of silence that encircled the country, and it is reverberating around the world, causing joy and hope among the exiled children of the Gael, and causing joy and hope also, and giving encouragement to other oppressed peoples in India, Egypt and elsewhere.

The victory that has been won by Sinn Féin has vindicated Easter Week 1916; and it marks the end of a long reign of Anglicisation, and corruption – and the corruption followed as a result of the Anglicisation. It has ended the most shameful period in the history of Ireland, when at last the Irish people showed signs of people conquered. It has given evidence of the new spirit that has been infused into the country, and has shown that the Irish people possess every quality necessary to maintain themselves as an independent people, and has given every proof of their desire for their freedom and independence. It has raised the question of Ireland from one of mere party politics to the dignity of an international and worldwide principle. And it has once again demonstrated the truth of the old saying that no man can serve two masters; that the Irish people cannot be loyal to an Empire elsewhere and be loyal to their own country; that they cannot be Irish and English at the one time; that they must be wholehearted if the freedom of Ireland is to be won. And those who misinterpreted the aspirations of the Irish people, those who sought to

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