ADVICE TO SINN FEIN

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1955, 22 March 1919, Page 3

ADVICE TO SINN FEIN

MR, J. M. TWOMEY GIVES A

SOFT ANSWER

(Wellington Post’s London Correspondent). London, January 21.

Freeman’s Journal for Bth January gives a long and interesting letter bv Mr J. M. Twomey (Temuka) , former!v a member of the Legislative Council, in which he puts before Irishmen, both Sinn .Feiners and Nationalists, the candid impressions of a colonial Irishman, with a few words of advice for settlement of Irish troubles. Mr Twomey says: “It is fortylive years since 1 sailed from Cork, and three months later I arrived in this country. Shortly afterwards I adopted .journalism as a profession, and live years later I became proprietor and editor of a tri-weekly paper. First of all I wish to say that I entirely and unreservedly disapprove of Sinn Feinism. According to the information which has reached this country, Sinn Feiners aspire to getting elected to every constituency in Ireland, and thus oust the Nationalists out of public life. When the Sinn Feiners are elected they will not attend in Parliament, and thus the voice of Ireland will never be heard in the House of Commons. Outrages of the most malevolent ami atrocious nature may he committed in Ireland, but (here will he no one to call attention tj» them, or to demand explanations from the responsible Ministers, in a moving picture I have seen a hoy jmtting up his lists to tight a mighty giant who wielded a tremendous sword, and 1 laughed, 1 would laugh at; the Irish Republic idea, too, if (lie subject was not 100 painful."

SiXX I' 1 KIN AND TIIK COLONIES. ‘•Dcl'ore Iho Sinn Ecincrs comineiK'Oil iheir ;x-(ivilics Trehnul bad the sympathy ot all Iho colonies, but llmro she is (o-duy and ‘anno so poor io (In hor reverence.’ Fur away as wo avo in Now Zealand, wo know il. We have lo hoar wilh (ho eoutempluous sneer and mocking reference (o Ireland from persons who previously had been ardent friends of Ireland: we have lo still see and hear paid lecturers going about and descanting on Irish disloyalty, and holding the Catholic religion up to ridieulo. Thai is what Sinn Fein has done for Ireland. They have alienated her friends and erealed a prejudice against Irishman wherever they are. Never before were Irishmen regarded as ungrateful, but the Sinn Feiners have smudged her fair fame with the indelible brand of ingratitude, which is the negation of all virtue. 1 used to feel proud of having been born in a country which the mighty Homans never attempted to conquer, which drove from its shore Ihe marauding Scandinavian, which possessed the virtue of converting the invaders into people ‘more Irish than I lie Irish themselves/ the isle of saints and scholars,’ once the university of Europe, the greatest missionary country on earth, but what have I to he proud of now?” IRISH PARTY’S .RECORD.

“It is needless to tell me that Ireland has had wrongs which would drive wise men mad. 1 know it : and 1 know that language cannot adefjualely express her wrongs, Iml J know also that atrociously as the people of Ireland have been treated, the people of Imgland have been treated as badly, if not worse. .English people may denounce (he Herman junkers, but their own aristocracy have been just as bad. Ireland has had her junkers too in the landlords. They were abolished by the Nationalist party, and now by way of showing their gratitude the Irish people want to abolish the Nationalists too. In my humble opinion the history of the' human race in any part of the world cannot show it nobler record of accomplished deeds, of unselfish fidelity to principles, of unswerving devotion, of self-denial-and incorruptibility, than that which stands to the credit of the Irish Nationalists, “1 have been for many \ears a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council (House of Lords); I understand Parliamentary procedure, and I say the Home Rule Act must be repealed or put into operation. It cannot be repealed except by an Act of Parliament. If Ireland elects Nationalists they will do their hesj to prevent repeal; if she elects Sinn Peiners. (hey will not sit in Parliament, and can therefore do nothing,” MR. REDMOND' VIN DICAT I'll). ‘Holm Redmond has been shamefully and disgracefully condemned tor the speech he made at the beginning of the war. It is held Unit he ought to have made it a condition of military support Unit the Homo RuleHet should he put in operation. Yes, and possibly ruin it, but that is not the point. At that moment John Redmond, with the Home Rule Act in his pocket, stood at the parting of the ways between England and Ireland. A hat was he to do? Was lie to turn back like a snarling ear, and say some elrurlish thing which would reopen the wounds which he had striven to heal, and perpetuate the feud of centuries ? Or was lie to take the nobler course of laying the foundation stone of future peace between England and Ireland? He took the nobler course, and never in his life did be do a greater thing for Ireland. By that one speech be lifted her to a pinnacle in public estimation on which she has not stood for centuries. Well, now. why have I written this? 1 am not so sanguine as to believe that I can do any good, but, on the other hand, it can do no harm to let my countrymen ‘see themselves as others see them.’ May God open their eyes to their folly; 1 agd may God cave Ireland.”