The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1920. THE PAST AND THE PRESENT.

Southland Times, Issue 18836, 1 June 1920, Page 4

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1920. THE PAST AND THE PRESENT.

In reply to the letter by “lona,” which we publish I ills morning, we ha\e no intention of (iis-ai—ing the cono-.-l in-tween Lb M a lo: ix and the Au-i Indian IV,-s. except f> *■ mark tiiat (hj i! brilliant po hue's ref; rence tn ine recent, war a,- a “tralc war' was .an in- only or hi.- mo.-t irritating con !riiiulion to the c-ritic-.-m of Hie Ln.piic-po-ipon in relation to G'-nminy. The quotation from de Vale-a*.- spi-vh we publish*-,! is Miriicient to stand i.y it-elf ami “Una" weaken- in- ease by tnp rrin" that tile context would .-how th.d de VM.-im. with i.w “v.a I! e.-t ai di.-ied cln,racier for ;n cutucy mid calmness el ulleram-e" said, something entirely different . So that there need be no mist ike- we repeat the limitation: The English ordered the Irish Divisions to Gallipoli and Mesopotamia tor the ted purpose of having them exterminated. In Mesopotamia, tor ilist anee, an .uncial order forbade soldk-is to leave their barrack.- bet wien S a.m. ami 5 p.m. lieenu-e it wa.- deal It to moce in the ncd. in the me,- of ini.- order l.lol) Iri-lmo-n ware man-had at noon to a point 40 miles dislanl. There were no Turk..- the.v; -10U Irish died on the marc/!. Tim next morn mg I hey w-re ord* red b.c-k. Of ih--1.100 no' on- lived to ,-t-e tie- p.o tie-v li id led. U I mu a .-no, hj. i b,-n bred it i- Liedami's hair-d of us that breeds this si rile, L ;! 1b- noticed I ha! ;;71 ■ ■ inferring thin: de \ i.leru might mu have said what those weeds convey, because of his "well established character for accuracy and calmness of utterance,” our co, respondent pioeaadto accept the quotation as correct and to ai-guc that we were wiong in sialing infai cut ialiy that, de Valera was a liar because the facts In- had adduced had not been impugned and because history showed that the "wholesale destruction of the Irish race was again and again attempted by tlie dominant power.” “Iona" wants it both ways. That de Valera might not have said it because it is not true, and that in any case it is true. Wc do not argue about the lac's but we do not admit them as accurate---frankly we do not believe them to be true as he puts them. We agree with "Iona" as to the terms of the ugly charge that the Irish “president” makes against the British Government. It is at this point that our correspondent, probably unconsciously, goes to the whole root of the present, trouble. He accepts, de Valera's statement and impute.- barbaric inte.ntions lo a modern Brit-

i.-li government, based upon the events of tin aim past. It is Ireland's trouble to-day that she is nursing ancient grievances and feuding the fire of racial hatred with the wrongs of past centuries. “Iona” might have gone back to (.he days of Henry 11. to make his catalogue .more impressive, but his recital does not help us to a solution, though it may enable us to understand the feelings of tlie Irishman in 1920 who civtnot forget the seventeenth century. The vindictive words from the London Times in 1847 which are quoted differently by Sullivan iu his “Story of Ireland” and by Chesterton, are not the words of England of today any more than they were of England ;;f that time. And even a partisan like Sullivan, though he credits the British government with blundering, though he blames

| the repeal of the duty of imported corn for I Itclana’s woes at this time, does not charge | tne English people with having engineered 1 11 famine “for the purpose of decimating or I entirely destroying” the Irish people. We j in.iiht have expected Mr tie Valera to have fed such an imputation to an American 1 audience,-but we did not expect it of “Iona” i and with a little reflection we are sure that ! lie w 11 ipalise that this reference to history can hardly be accepted by intelligent beings ; ks inferential proof ol the accuracy of the j ‘'president';” remarks about Mesopotamia i and Gallipoli, Nor tio the recent cable messages help him lo any stppreciable extent. The wrecking of empty police stations, attacks delivered by hundr%|> of men i upon five policemen am} the murders that | go unpunished floes net seem to us to suggest j that the people of Ireland are either “un- ; armed or defenceless.” “Iona” in his diffi- ! colly with the “self-determination” idea i serins to forget that the Peace Conference I did not hesitate to divide peoples to whom 1 this one of the Fourteen Points was benig applied, where there was a division in thought end sympathy. Take Silesia and Sic: vig as examples and see if Ulster’s

claim for consideration as an entity is not as sound! But while the last general election showed a big advance in the Sinn Fein vote, the recent municipal elections under the more illuminating system of proportional representation, revealed that the Sinn I'eincts did not enjoy the great superiority that tlie figures of December. 1918, suggested. Wc agree in the end with our correspondent that it is not too late for a solution of this old problem, for a practical step towards a united and friendly Ireland, but “Iona" will pardon us if we fail utterly to find any ground for the motive that he sees behind the “double parliament” bill that is offered by the parliament at Westminster. He declares that it is “meant to divide the people” and the inference to be draw.. is that the British government in spite of its immense powers for coercion, in spite of its “army of occupation” is going to the trouble of introducing this system for the pumpase of perpetuating the troubles in inland. It is too thin. We see in this scheme, and we hope the stale of Ireland

will permit of its early introduction, a great opportunity for a gradual diminution of the bitterness between North and South and a real unifying process in Ireland. The superior council in which both parties will have to work will help that movement and ultimately a united Ireland will be possible. But an Irish Republic independent of the British Empire will not be tolerated by any dominion in the Empire, and at the present moment that is what Mr de Valera is preaching to our American friends with an effective use of what we call the “gentle art of propaganda.”