Alms for Ireland during the Famine - The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps)
« previous page | book contents | start of this chapter | next page »
only have reached them through the English Government. As many English people had also contributed largely, it was thought right to pass a vote of thanks even to them also; and to me was assigned by the Committee the duty of moving this latter resolution; a delicate task, which was discharged in these words, as they appear in the newspaper report:—
"I have to move, sir, another vote of thanks for alms. We have thanked the kind citizens of that friendly country beyond the Atlantic; we have now to thank, heartily and unfeignedly to thank, those benevolent individuals who have sent us relief from the hostile country of Great Britain. There is many a generous heart and many an open hand in England; and if you look into the lists of contributors to our relief funds you will find large remittances, both from individuals and from congregations of every sect in England, which may put to shame the exertions of Irishmen themselves. There are amongst these, you may be sure, innumerable kind-hearted people, charitable women, and hard-working tradesmen, who have contributed according to their means, and without a thought of self-interest, to feed the hungry and reprieve the dying. Shall these people not be thanked? Shall we not discriminate between the rulers who have conspired to keep from us the use of our own resources, and these good people who have ministered to us out of theirs? In an assembly of Irishmen such questions need not be asked. Cordially, heartily, and unreservedly, we thank them. Now, sir, I wish I could stop here—I wish our thanks could be disencumbered of all ungracious restrictions, as in the case of America; but here is a very obvious distinction to be taken; and it is necessary there should be no mistake. Americans give us the produce of their own industry and energy. We have no claim upon them;—America never wronged us, never robbed us;—no American ever sought, save by fair competition, to ruin our trade that his might flourish;—America has not the spending of our rents and revenues;—Americans do not thrive by virtue of our beggary, and live by our death;—Americans do not impose upon us laws that breed famine and pestilence, nor locust swarms of officials that exasperate famine and pestilence. In your thanks to the Americans let your whole hearts go with them. Let your acknowledgments be as ample and unconditional as their generosity (hear, and loud cheers). They have laid us under an obligation; and if Heaven be good to us it shall be discharged (loud cheers). But Englishmen, sir, can well afford to give Ireland alms out of the spoils of Ireland. They are rich, and may well be generous, because we have been such fools as to let them have our bread to eat and our money to spend for generations;—because we have consented to use everything they can make, and to make little or nothing for ourselves;—because we have sacrificed our tradesmen's wages, and our peasant's lives to the insatiable spirit of English—commerce, let me call it; beggars must keep a civil tongue in their heads. Let me not be told that it is ungracious upon such an occasion to speak of the wrongs that England has done us. Sir, it is just upon such an occasion that it is needed most. Irishmen have been taught to look so long to Eng- ...continue reading »
« previous page | book contents | start of this chapter | next page »
Page 132