WCP6658

[1] [p. 256]

[Dublin]

[November 1881]

I had not intended to speak in public before coming to England; but I feel so much sympathy with the Irish people in their resistance to the degrading tyranny now rampant here, that it seems to me cowardly to refuse any little assistance I might give, and I have told some gentlemen who have been urging me that I will lecture this week for the benefit of the Political Prisoners' Aid Society¹, of which Miss Helen Taylor² is President.

I had the pleasure of meeting that lady here, and the pleasure of listening to her address to the ladies of the Land League³ — a speech that I wished could have rung through the length and breadth of England. When will the great English party to whom the future will be given raise its head? I long for its advent. If this is Liberalism which I see here, what Toryism may be I can with difficulty imagine.

I have had the pleasure, too, of meeting an Irish Catholic bishop who is with us entirely — Bishop Nulty, of Meath⁴ — a prelate who does not hesitate to declare that private property in land is an injurious blasphemy. He is fettered to some extent, of course, but he wields great influence, and we shall hear from him before this thing is over.