WHAT AN IRISHMAN THINKS

Hokitika Guardian, 12 February 1927, Page 4

WHAT AN IRISHMAN THINKS

OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Bv DENIS FRANCIS HAXNIGAN, 1.L.8., Barrister-at-Law Ireland). AYhy should not an Irishman be proud of belonging to the British Empire ? I. ns an Irishman, feel that I owe unfaltering loyalty to the greatest of all Empires. If we take the strictly historical view, Ireland was once governed by rulers of Irish blood. But if wc acceptthe authority of the “Annals of the Four Al asters”— a work written by learned and patriotic Irishmen toe warring Irish princes hated each other, and, from time to time, made raids on the enemies w‘bo were their own fellow-countrymen, burning their dwellings and carrying off their cattle and their wives and daughters. If Strongbow’s invasion even partially pacified tho turbulent Irish clans, surely it was a blessing to the country! At any rate, these things happened nearly eight hundred years ago, and tho feuds between the Irish elans, as well as between the rebellious Irish and the English who tried to govern them, are—let us hope—“things of tho past.” Let us freely admit that iuanv foolish and even wicked deeds were done by both Irishmen and Englishmen in bygone days. _ All good irishmen and all good Englishmen sincerely regret that such things should ever have occurred. In Queen Elizabeths? reign Essex dis•■onrarded the claims ol Irishmen, while Hugh O’Neill often’ treated Englishmen in Ireland as if they had no rights at all. Cromwell put down an Irish rebellion with military thoroughness, and although “the curse of Cromwell ’ is still a familiar phrase in the mouths of Irish peasants wlio know very little about either Irish or English history, some future historian free from partisanship may ho able to show them that “Old Noll” acted in perfect conformity with the code of war in liis own day. “An Old Parliamentary hand.” more remarkable for long speeches than for remeniherahle epigrams, once said that Ireland has not had “a douole dose of original sin.” Neither has England ! The Penal Laws were cruel, and well deserved Burke’s scathing denunciation of them. But these unjust laws have been long since repealed or have become obsolete. It is more than questionable whether any of the Irish rebellions were either morally or politically justifiable. To-day, if common sense is to prevail among the present inhabitants of Ireland. they ought all lo he as proud as T am of belonging to an Empire far greater than the Roman Empire, recognised by both (loots and historians as “tho mistress of the world.” England is the land, to borrow lennyson’.s felicitous words, of “sobersuited Frocdob.” So long ago as the time of the Saxon regime, the Witanagemot, a national parliament, and. at least tho nucleus of trial by jury, an institution formally established in the reign of King John, exist ’l. Representative government arose in England much earlier than in any other European nation. Tho English people fought, all forms of despotism sturidiy but peacefully. To-day democracy flourishes not only in the Alothcr ( .umtry. but in the various British ••Hollies. Even in India the justice of British Laws is appreciated hv nearly every educated Hindu. The embodiment of Hindu customs in the Indian code shows that England refrains Bern forcibly anglicizing a race wl icli is alien, in many respects, to her own people. Liberty in tho British Empire has Peeii generated by evolutionary rather Ilian by revolutionary methods. Whatever is good in the American constituion lias been borrowed from England with her Magna, Carta, her Petition of Rights, and her Habeas Co’.pus. 1 have faith in the justice an i iit oirnptibility of English Courts and ol English judges, and in the wisdom and the” integrity of British .statesmen. The progress of mankind now largely depends on the l>eliel in human brotherhood and on the abandonment of all senseless antagonism between nations. England, although she lias been engaged in many wars, has always had Peace between Nations as her goal. The great work which she is doing in connection with the League of Nations lias international peace for its object. At the same lime, the British Empire eannot neglect purely British interests. England must exercise more energy in advertising her splendid products. She needs more widespread publicity. The superiority of British films as faithful pictures of life has Ikmui obscured hv the more dexterous median ism ol American films. Buttime will show that the British moving picture has an aesthetic excellence which the American moving picture cannot approach. England has suffered severely from ihe effects ol the World War, and the deplorable increase ol unemployment must sorely grieve every British patriot. But the fact that British goods are better than those of any other nation must ultimately secure the triumph of British trade. The public in this democratic epoch will ere long he more enlightened through tho steady progress ot education. Tho workers in every country an’ beginning to realise the vast ditfcioiioo between genuine goods and shoddy. Already they see that to buy a worthless article at a low price is not true economy. The British Colonies have given clear proof at the Imperial Conference of their passionate loyalty to England, and I venture to say that Ireland’s loyalty, in spite of some revolutionary fanatics, may be absolutely relied on.’ for experience calms and moderates what is unreasonable in the stormy Celtic soul. As T think now, all sane Irishmen will think in days to come!