John Daly’s First Speeches on Irish Soil
In response to the welcome given him at Kingstown, John Daly declared that his National spirit was unchanged by his years of suffering, and unequivocally condemned the un-Irish policy of dynamite. His words were as follows:—
I went into a British dungeon an Irish Nationalist, and I am proud to say I am an Irish Nationalist still. I have often thought with feelings that it would be hard to express what was the position I held in the estimation of my countrymen. England tried to brand me with the character that would never be accepted by the Irish people. I was not a dynamitard, and I did not believe that the policy of dynamite would ever strike terror into the English people. The dream of my life was that I might fight for Irish freedom like a soldier and patriot.
Speaking the Sunday evening from the windows of the Amnesty Association in York Street to the immense crowd assembled in his honour, he was even more emphatic when he thus addressed the men of Dublin and of Ireland:—
I am not going to try to make a set speech, for my heart is too full to-night, and the scene I have witnessed here to-night has given me one feeling and one sentiment, and that is, that it has wiped out every recollection of the thirteen years I have been in Portland prison; but just let me say these few words to you, and that is, standing in this window to return you thanks from the bottom of my heart for this grand demonstration, all the more because your presence here to-night is your answer to the efforts that have been made to stigmatise me as a dynamitard.
I never yet believed in the policy of dynamite. I think the Irishmen of our day are too noble, and too brave, and too generous, and too worthy of the right to legislate for themselves to advocate a principle that would inflict misery and pain upon people who are not responsible for the misery of Ireland. I believe if you are capable of working out your own independence, you will never resort to the means they have tried to saddle upon me.
Originally published in Shan Van Vocht
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that’s your “compassionate” decree.
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