Jeremiah O'Donovan-Rossa

The speech at Oswald's Grove

Jeremiah "O'Dynamite" Rossa as some would have called him, was a die-hard Irish rebel. A Fenian from County Cork who was jailed and sent to Australia and later 'amnestied' into exile. He arrived in 1871 on the Cuba and was one of five released prisoners known as the "Cuba 5." The others were John Devoy, Charles Underwood O'Connell, Harry Mulleda, and John McClure. Rossa did not veer from the path of force and  was outspoken in his call for violence against England in order to free Ireland from English rule. He openly solicited contributions to a "Skirmishing Fund" to be used in any way necessary to damage England. His fiery oratory not only turned off those who might prefer a more civilized approach to dealing with the English; but also those, John Devoy chief of the Clan Na Gael was one, who agreed with his methods in private but wanted all discussion of this type of 'warfare' kept a secret known only to those in command of the fund. Foretelling the unrest which brought down the Russian monarchy and ushered in the Bolsheviks, O'Donovan-Rossa at one point seems to be making a pitch for joining Karl Marx or one of his adherents in England. 

The Daily Inter Ocean

Chicago Illinois, Friday August 16, 1901

ROSSA IS HEARD

BY NATIONALISTS

Addresses Crowd of 10,000
at Oswald's Grove

HEARERS CHEER HIM

Says Erin's Strength Is Sapped
By Emigration

Irish Patriot Refuses to Trust English to Allow His Countrymen Independence

   Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, once familiarly known as "Dynamite" Rossa, because of his advocacy of that explosive as the best means of bringing England to terms, was the principal speaker at the Irish Nationalist meeting and picnic at Oswald's grove yesterday. An estimate placed the number of person in attendance at 10,000. This figure may have been considerably exceeded, for the crowd was constantly shifting, and the people were scattered about the grounds.
    The same sort of amusements were indulged in as at Sunnyside. The wheels of fortune and the ball-throwing and ring-pitching had all the business they could attend to, both day and evening. It was a jolly crowd. There was a dancing pavilion, and the floor was never vacant, a band playing for those who preferred dancing to listening to the speeches of Rossa and his colleagues.
    The speakers were escorted from McCoy's hotel at noon, the committee being headed by John P McGoorty, John T Keating, and William F Mahoney. In the carriages were, besides James F Eagan and Senator T C Sullivan of New York, the following well-known Nationalists: Colonel J J Reilly, Colonel R[icard] O'S[ullivan] Burke, Captain H B Ryan, Myles McPadden, S J Donleavy, Secretary of the fire and police commission of Denver; Captain Joseph O'Donahue, John Bigane, Representative Michael J Kelley, John J Mahony, James Cleary, James J Carroll, P B Flanagan, Thomas Reynolds, Maurice A Crotty, W E Fogarty, A J Ryan, William McCoy, James J McManamon, Daniel Donahue, E F O'Riordan, William Dwyer, E M Lahiff, Cornelius Callahan, Major J J Casey.

Gets a Rousing Welcome

   The principles of the Nationalists beign "Ireland fre by peaceable means if possible, but free by force if necessary," Rossa was given a rousing welcome. The majority of those who came to hear him held ideas in accord with those of the speaker. His remarks were received with all the enthusiasm of the days when Larkin and O'Brien were plotting, and every filing at England was vociferously applauded.
    John P McGoorty was the chairman, and he lost no time in introducing the orator of the day. Mr. Rossa has aged considerably since he last spoke to a gathering of his countrymen in this city. His voice is still strong and resonant, and he easily made himself heard. He took for his text, "You may as well put your trust in the devil to get to heaven as to trust the English to ree Ireland."
    He told his hearers that there was no doubt the large emigration was a drain on the power of the Irish at home that bids fair in the end to leave none to fight for the liberty they sought on their own soil. The flight of the young men and women from Ireland was taking away the sinews of war, he said, but yet, even if they remained and did nothing to aid the cause of independence, no good could come by remaining.
    He thought that force was the only way to make England act. The policy of England was to drive every Irishman away. Agitation in Parliament was a poor way to convince her of error.

Believes in Force

   "Talk of gaining any concessions for Ireland by other means than fire and sword is only indulged in my enemies of the green isle," said Rossa. "I saw the great fire in Chicago in 1871 and the partial destruction of Boston by flames. Those conflagrations show that a fire, ignited with the wind in the right direction, can sweep over a great urban area. If blazes were started simultaneously in a thousand places in London on a windy day that center of oppression and robbery would be almost entirely destroyed. Then would be our time to strike for the freedom of our country.
   "I have talked with English radicals, who are said by our enemies to be willing to aid us to get home rule. A famous English radical parliamentarian told me that if the Irish party would first work to obtain for the industrial classes in England such laws a they want they would then lend their efforts to our cause. His sentiments are those of all his party. I know that from personal investigations."
    It was rumored throughout the grounds that there were several "British spies" in the crowd to note the speeches and watch the temper of the people, but if any of England's emissaries were present they were not discovered. If they were there, Rossa's denunciation of Kin Edward and his advisers would have given them food for dispatches to Scotland Yard. He closed an address full of brilliant sentences with the hope that some day the land of his birth might ultimately be free.
    Freedom would come, he declared, when Ireland's sons throughout the world stood together, and with strong arms and fearless hearts battled for independence.
    James F Eagan of Dublin and Senator Sullivan of New York also spoke, and they were frequently applauded. The evening programme was similar in character. Mr. Rossa spoke again and other addresses were made by John T Keating and other local speakers.