The Press. Friday, January 24, 1919. Unhappy Ireland.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16429, 24 January 1919, Page 6

The Press. Friday, January 24, 1919. Unhappy Ireland.

. .We are afraid that frosh trouble of a serious character is brewing in Ireland. Our cable nows yesterday told us of the meeting of a so-called Republican Parliament in Dublin, and of the members of this Sinn Fein Assembly standing while a declaration of independence was read announcing an Irish Republic and demanding that the "British garrison" should "evacuate Ireland." This was merely carrying out the programme with which the Sinn Fein candidates went to the constituencies at the recent elections. The manifesto of the Standing Committee of Sinn Fein stated plainly that Sinn Fein aimed'at establishing the Irish 'Republic 1. By withdrawing the Irish representation from the-British Parliament. and by denying the right and opposing tho will of tho British Government to legislate for Ireland. 2* By the establishment of a constituent assembly comprising persons chosen by Irish constituencies as tho supreme national authority to speak and act in tho name of the Irish l>eople, and to devolop Ireland's social, political, and industrial life for . tho welfare of tho whole people of Ireland. 3. By-appealing to the Peace Conference for the establishment of Ireland as an independent nation. These points were emphasised in the ; election address issued by Professor ! John MncNeill, who stood for tlio National University, to which representation has been granted by the new Act. The following are tho salient paragraphs in his address:— In socking the suffrage of the electors, I make no personal claim. I ask those who .will vote for me to express by their votes their desiro to secure for the Irish Nation tho right ■ of deciding its own form and manner i of Government. i I ask them to declare by their rotes that, so far as Ireland is a Subject Nation, slio is subject by no choice of hers, but by force; that she has uniformly protested, and is now protesting, against British rule, to which she has never given, but has

always steadfastly refused, allegiance; that tho British Government in Ireland is a Government do facto oniv, rind not do jure; to declare that Ire--1 land is entitled to no loss freedom than any other nation, and that they desire no loss freedom for Ireland". In my view this freedom must practically be realised in the form of an Irish Republic. Sineo Irish representatives who attend the British Parliament give f-ountenancc to tho arrogant claim that tho interests of this Nation are merely a "domestic concern" of the British Government, if I am elected r I will not attend the British Parliament or take part in its proceedings. In short, I come bofore you politically as entirely in accord with what is known as the Sinn Fein policy, and in the purpose of acting politically with thoso who are associated with that policy. The British Government has been notoriously tolerant and long-suffering where Ireland is concerned. It will be remembered that Mi- Birrell went so rir as to allow the so-called Irish volunteers to march in military formation througli the streets of Dublin, and actually to rehearse tho attack on Dublin Castle, ■which -was afterwards carried out in grim earnest. But no Government worthy of the namo can allow any -section of the community to commit with impunity such acts of open rebellion ~s tho setting up of a revolutionary Parliament and the proclamation of another form of Government hostile to that al- , ready in existence. Still less can the British Government afford to wink ab these proceedings knowing that among tho leaders and instigators of rebellion are those who conspired with Germany during the great war, and were paid with German gold. That thero is still tho idea of force behind tho Sinn Fein movement is shown by the fact that the Irish papers to hand by yesterday's mail report numerous prosecutions for unlawful drilling, and of raids for arms carried out by armed and masked nun, and of attempts to smuggle arms and ammunition into disaffected districts. Tho suggestion that Ireland should be represented at the Peace Conference a> " an independent nation," and that tin Conference should bo asked to confirm its independence of Great Britain, is, U'n rn«T ,1 X !

wo snouul say tho most impudent propcml tliat has vet boon nut forward in connexion with the Irish problem. In tho, first placo to allow Ireland to be separately represented at the Conferonco as an independent nation would bo :o admit at once the truth of tho 6inn Fein contentions, and to concede tho Sinn Fein demands. At present, whatever Professor John MacNeill cr other 1 disloyalists may say, Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom. It is as much subject to tho control of the British Parliament as England or Scotland. That is not merely the British view. "NVhen four Irishmen in New York set themselves down as "citizens of the Irish Republic," and were arrested on a charge of violating tho Draft law, it was held that the men were subjects of Great Britain, and as such they were registered in the records of the Provost Marshal. To eugg9st> that the settlement of tho Irish question should be taken out of the hands of British statesmen and tho British Parliament and adjudicated upon by foreigners at tho Peace Conference is to ask that Great Britain, and indeed the British Empire, should appear before tho Conference in the position of a defeated Power. The Central Powers must nocessarily have their boundaries settled by the Conference, because they havo been defeated, and must subnit to the terms imposed upon them, but tho British Empire, thank God, is noL (Under that humiliating necessity. It is a thousand pities that the §inn Fein rebellion was not checked by firm handling at the outset. It will have to bo put down, and we very much fear that this will now prove a task of very great, difficulty.