THE IRISH QUESTION

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 1, 27 September 1920, Page 5

THE IRISH QUESTION

Sir—ln your issue of this morning you quote Mr. Lloyd George's statement to a Labour deputation that waited upon him to urge self-determination upon Ireland. Mr. Lloyd Georgo, in, Ms answer to this "deputation, referred to the attitude taken by Abraham Lincoln regarding the claim by the Southern States of America to but he did not give the reason for that attitude of Lincoln's. The whole question in tho I mind of the American statesman rested '■ upon this point: viz., "that where there ' was a just and natural union of the people" there was no justification for secession. Those omitted words of Lincoln's make all the difference.' in the world, for thero is no just and natural union between Ireland and • England.. Qoograpliically they arc separated by' water; racially they are distinctly separate; and still more important is the fact that Ireland has never asquiesced in a union, brought about by moans of what Lecky, the historian, Gladstone,., and other eminent men, havo not hesitated to call the "blackest fraud in history." One statement of Lincoln's, however, in this connection is very applicable to tho present position, and that is "that no nation is good enough to'govern another." Strange how that quotation is last Bight of. As to Mr. M'Swiney, we are. told that lie was Med by court-martial, and that among' other things ho was. found guilty of sedition. For quoting a speech made by Mr. Bonar Law in September, 1919, in Ireland, at a time wheii EngJand had her back to the wall, a Sinn Feinor recently was sent to prison for sedition; another Sinn Feinor, for quoting a speech made by Sir Edward Carson in 1913, breathing war and defiance against the British Government for passing tho Home Rule Bill, was also sent to prison for sedition; and yet another for quoting a speech made by the ineffable "Galloper Smith" (now Lord Birkenhead) against Home Rule for Irolahd, also breathing war and defiance, was ailso sent to prison for sedition. The first, Mr. Bonar Law, was a Cabinet Minister; the two latter were given positions of honour (presumably for defying the British Government), the one taken into the Cabinet, the other made Lord Chancellor of England. Is it any wonder that throughout tho length and 'breadth of Ireland English justice is a tWng of scorn and contempt? Aa to this "full and free partnership" that, according to Mr. Lloyd George, has bean offered Ireland, let) us look at it for a moment. The datest Home Rule Bill brought forward by the Lloyd Georgo Government makes tho partitioning of Ireland a cardinal ife,ature, and does everything possible to excite religious ' differences. No power is given to tho Irish Parliament ovor the polico (R.1.C.) for the first three years; no power at all of appointment to tho judiciary or any kind of control ovor tho Civil Service; ho power to levy or collect indirect taxation (Customs or Excise), nor income tax (the chief head of direct taxation). Extraordinary provisions are made in regard to finance, and ailso for representation. Such is tho "full' and free partnership" offered to Ireland. Were it offered to New Zealand (or perhaps T should 6ay Australia, since it is diffioult to imagino New Zealand taking -any stand against England), one can imagine the scorn, defiance, and indignation with which it would be received.—T am, etc., FAIR PLAT, September 7, 1920.