IRISH RUMOURS.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 September 1917, Page 1

IRISH RUMOURS.

FPFHCT OF SINN FINN VICTORY Dublin, July 15. Ireland is talking ol nothing iQy day but of the amazing quality rjl the Sinn Fein victory in Fast Cl arc 4 . A well-informed Nationalist potty tician has calculated that it mean's that probably only two seats are reasonably safe for the Nationalist Parly—Mr John Redmond's in Waterford and, if the Unionists did not contest it, .Mr P. J. Brady’s in St Stephen’s Green, Dublin. Mr John Dillon, it is said, could scarcely hope to hold Fast Mayo That may be the exaggeration of alarm ; Sinn Feiners will confidently tell von that it is thoroughly justified.

This “knock-out blow' 1 to the Nationalist Party introduces a new situation in Ireland. It complicates, for example, the prospect of the Convention. How. it is asked, can Mr Redmond and his colleagues go to the Convention after they have been repudiated by this series oi pulverising by-elections ? Who, it is asked, will they purport to represent ? With whom will the Ulstermen he asked to negotiate? A RKBKL OX REBELLIONS. I find even among good party men -in Nationalist circles an admission that Past Clare is an indictment of the Nationalist Party rather thn.n a declaration in favour of prospective rebellion with real guns and real fighting. When the blast Clare men cheer the memory ot the rebels who fell in Dublin in paster Week it does not mean that they themselves desire to come out and light, in the phrase attributed to Mr De Valera after his surrender—“ if only with knives and forks.” It means that the rebels, in the opinion of the Hast Clare electors, brought selfgovernment nearer in a week than the Irish Party had in a generation. As one rebel told me : “ No sensible man believes in rebellious repeating themselves like recurring decimals, Once in a generation is,” he said. “ often enough to demonstrate earn - estness bv sacrifice of life.”

It would be, I think, a fair summary of the Sinn Fein movement to say that it is largely a revolt against the party because it is oldfashioned and, with the exception of its leaders, uuintellcetunl and without inspiration. I'ROM RUSSIA VIA MAVXOOTIL Sinn Fein lias captured theyouug clergy, too, and their influence should not he underestimated- in Clare. They, too, are in protest against the Old Order, which does not change fast enough, and against the domination of the younger generation of more highly educated clerics by the older generation of less highly educated clerics, as well as against the 'harsh domination of Young Ireland by the Irish Party machine.

The wind of emancipation blowing- across Furope from Russia reached Maynooth on its way to Fast Clare. The growth of the insurrectionary movement began, the Sinn Feiners will tell you, when Ulster decided to arm to protect its ideals, and it grew still more rapidly ! when the Curragh incident encour- j aged in the Sinn Fein view, other logical conclusions. It swept all before it when the Nationalist Party agreed to accept partition and to divide Ireland. And when all that : is said, Nationalists will tell you 1 that Sinn Fein is a barren thing and j that it aims at a Republic by force j of arms, which nobody in Ireland ; except a bandful of dangerous ex- j tremists really believes possible. 1 There is still lime, therefore, it is suggested, to retrieve the situation if Nationalists wake up and act vigorously. TALK OK RESIGNATIONS. I mentioned yesterday the view that Mr Redmond might alter the whole outlook by resigning and successfully fighting Waterford. Nationalists fear, however, that il Mr Redmond resigns it will be to leave polities altogether. A suggestion I have heard- canvassed is that the Irish Party, in its own interest and the interest of the country, should resign in a body and not seek re-election. It is said that this suggestion was seriously discussed at a parlv meeting aiter the Longford election. The idea is that they should tell the country plainly that they cannot go on il the people are divided and that they are willing to make way lor the chosen of the nation. Such a dramatic stroke, they think, would wake the people up and bring them to a sense of realities. The.Sinn Feiners believe in abstension from Parliament, and if this plan were adopted Ireland would be disfranchised. The Sinn Feiners would then have to justify themselves with a constructive programme, while hithertoo their efforts have been largely destructive and particularly -directed at tearing down the Irish Party. Il Ireland were disfranchised business interests of all kinds would take alarm at having no spokesmen to represent them, and in three months it is held, Sinn Fein would begin to crumble.

That is perhaps a rather remote speculation, but such projects are being seriously discussed by Nationalist politicians. It shows how badly they have been shaken by the result ol Fast Clare and how bewildered the old school of politicians has become at the developments precipitated by the new.