AMERICA AND IRELAND

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 33, 3 November 1919, Page 6

AMERICA AND IRELAND

DE VALERA'S CAMPAIGN LITTLE SYMPATHY WITH SINN FEIN (London "Times" Correspondent.) Washington, September 13. The news from Ireland is prominently displayed in the Press. It; is accompanied by a statement from Mr. do Valera ;i'uout out military rutlilessnei6. Order in Ireland could, l[r. do Valera says, be secured at once if the troops ot' the alien oppressor were withdrawn. Sinij Fein had been suppressed mainly because its Parliament was hoping in material reeonslruction, but the Br tisli Government cimnot "suppress the whole Irish people, and Ireland will never acknowledge an alien authority—the British Crown." The professional Irish, and friends like Mr. Hearst, may be expected to echo clamorously Mr. do Yaleiu's words, but it may be doubted whether in impartial quarters there will l;c much sympathy for. Sinn l'ein. There certainly would not be if only the Government could accompany its p:dice measuivs with somic er.rmvt endeavour that i-; not the produet of heavy-handcl helplessness, but part of a carefully thought-nut policy which will end :n '.:ll v rins Ireland a tolerable measure of Feme Rule. As has been repeatedly iminie l nut, virtna'lv all Americans are It—ie Rulers. They believe in the nrircin!" ef federation. Tliey do not 'believe tV.it British rtil'c ill Ireland has bron successful. They are not, however, separatists. Tlie idea of an Irish Ur"'ihVc dors not appeal to'their comuion sen-e. It is remembered that, strongly a- Americans h»lieve in 100 l autonomy. the of(ythem fought rather than allow a iri>vity tn <ncede. A large number even of the-? Irish-Americans who now play w'th th" idea of independence of the Alelhfv TOmhl wmfd never have dnne ro had we shown of late years any c isn of an lin)""st to s."lisfy Home Pa lei's. Mr. de Yaln-;a 'has lvid a fine r?cejition in places like Pv-lon. New York. Cbicr-D. lie,, has been acclaimed'everywhere by the p-»""ic : '"ink-- e f the Tri=V Fe lies wol> ably collected large ,-nnis, ( .Vmgh it is impossible to get details of the amount or the method of its expenditure. He has had his vicariously aired before sympathetic Republican Senators. But there are "n signs that he has turned any ponderable section of American opinion towards his "Republic. Many even, of 111? Irishmen who have waved hi-- f-nd acclaimed his oratory have wobbly do'ie sc. less because they believe in his visions than because tliev regard him as the symbol of the'f race's discontent. Air. de YnVra also has had hi" .rebels. At some places (be tiWmenl: of his (la? lacked reflect. At Baltimore the Mayo" gave him to und»rste"d that he was not welcomed officially. The hissiiiT of Mr. Wilson at sundry of his meetings has been sharply censured, and hi= campaign ."•w'nst th» T.rnirn» is rented as an intrusion info domestic politics. Nor is thai all. . German Associates.

Though careful to decorate with wreaths "from the Irish President" the statues of Washington and Lincoln, he has been caught hobnobbing with Gorman and otlifr alien agitators. In New York he received sympathetically one of the leaders o'f the Indian Nationalists.; In San Francisco he was presented with u sword by a Hindu organisation. On his lHuni to New York.he was waited upon by a group of Chinese malcontents. In Washington, where ho is housed in tlio building where the British War Mission used to dwell, in his Irish Republic Headquarters he lias been helping Egyptians and others with grievances against us. In Chicago Mr. de Yalera had a confidential intercourse' with. German Americans who, according to the Milwaukee "Journal," sympathised with the new German-American movement. The same which, situated 'as it is in the "Capital of Ger man America," has during tlio war achieved a fine, record for alert patriotism, thinks thaj, this meeting can be taken as a sign of the resumption between Irish and German extremists of those relations which wero established in 1907 between the German-American Alliance and the American branch of the Ancient Order of Hilwrnians, from which General Bernhardt expected so much. Old German-American leaders, anyhow, are again organising to try to force upon the United Slates a German, or rather anti-British, policy. They are doing so with an astounding blatancy. In their prints one now finds constant references to revenge and another "day," and appeals to the Trish lo join them in their efforts to ensure that'the United States shall not again be the catspaw of the common foe. The president in his recent speeches has been, moreover, vigorously warning the country against the reappearance of the "hyphen." He couples it with Bolshevism as one of the exotic dangers that threaten to aggravate the social and industrial situation which for domestic reasons is grave enough. There may bo a difference of opinion as to whether he is justified in saving that the ratification of the Treaty is foing to be the antidote to Bolshevism. But there is a general agreement in the community which is seriously alarmed bv the industrial outlook, with his denunciation of the twin evils of Bolshevism and "Hyphenism.' Sinn Fein is, however, owing to Mr. de. Yalera'# race and temperament, and th» methods of bis colleagues, _ tarred with the brush of alien radicalism in the eyes of many Americans. Dnt enough has been said to show why, despite the advertisement he has given to In=h discontent, it is not entirely clear that Mr. de Yalera has reallv helped Sinn Fein In* oomiiiF lioi'o. n*l/1 it mnv ]x> doubtm whether the American public has much use for Sinn Fein.