XI.
THE ARMY OF THE DISCONTENTED.
“That a deep-rooted feeling of discontent pervades the masses, none can deny; that there is a just cause for it, must be admitted. The old cry, ‘These agitators are stirring up a feeling of dissatisfaction among working-men, and they should be suppressed,’ will not avail now. Every thinking person knows that the agitator did not throw two millions of men out of employment.... That the army of the discontented is gathering fresh recruits day by day is true; and if this army should become so large that, driven to desperation, it should one day arise in its wrath and grapple with its real and fancied enemy, the responsibility for that act must fall upon the heads of those who could have averted the blow, but who turned a deaf ear to the supplication of suffering humanity, and gave the screw of oppression an extra turn because they had the power.”—T. V. Powderly, 1885.
XII.
DEFENDING DYNAMITE ASSASSINATION.
On April 7, 1885, O’Donovan Rossa delivered an address in Tremont Temple, Boston. From a report of his remarks which appeared in the “Boston Herald” of April 8, the following extracts are taken:—
“The papers of New York and of Boston represented him as a man who took dynamite to bed with him. [Laughter and cheers.] But this very thing England used in all her wars, and now had tons of it in Woolwich. Mr. Parnell told them two years ago that he had all the resources of civilization at command. He meant then that he only wanted an excuse to send over more of this destructive material. [Laughter and applause.] Scientific warfare alarmed England, and she would like Ireland to keep petitioning and not go to arms. Then they were asked, while they had the Coercion Acts, to come out and fight in honorable warfare. [Laughter.] He would rather fight in the open field if allowed, but the speaker went in for fighting the devil with his own weapons. [Applause.] He would not wish to hurt an Englishman, but there was no other way to root English government from Ireland. [Cheers, and a voice: ‘Yes, and we will root them out.’] He would show that it would cost England more to hold Ireland than it was worth. [Cheers.] After England had passed all her stringent laws, the recent explosions had occurred. Until England gave up Ireland, dynamite would go in.... There might be some who did not like to deal with dynamite, but they only wanted it done secretly. They said the speaker blew too much. [Laughter.] Well, he had to blow a bit to get them in. He had to make a noise, or else he would not get any aid for the men who are fighting England so as to make her understand it would be advisable to give Ireland a Parliament like that of 1801. [Cheers.] When they had that, he would rest for a time. But if she wished to stop the dynamite work in London, let her give Ireland justice. Till she did that, he would ask the people of Boston to give all the aid they could.... In conclusion, he asked his audience to do something to help the brave men working for the liberty of Ireland. He said there were to-day Irishmen working for the cause in England who had never seen America; but the scare they were giving England in the heart of London was doing more than twenty thousand men in the field. He did not like dynamite, and the English did not [laughter]; but he had no objection that the Irishmen in London or in Ireland should use all the dynamite they could get. [Applause.] England had done all she could with fire and sword to exterminate the race in Ireland. Why, she had sold the Irish people as slaves. England had banished the Irish people, and she kept doing it. He asked the chairman, if his family had been separated and forced to go to a strange country by the work of a Government, would he object to using dynamite, or hell-fire itself? [Great applause.]”
University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge
Transcriber’s Note
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.