THE GENTLE ART OF PROPAGANDA.

Southland Times, Issue 18839, 4 June 1920, Page 2

THE GENTLE ART OF PROPAGANDA.

To the Editor. Sir,—-When I saw, on my return from the Dunedin Show, your precious quotation from the American press again figuring in your leading columns, it struck me that it would be a good line to make a standing leader of it. This was done in the years gone by, in a paper that for fifty years has been doing pood work as the organ of a, not inconsiderable, portion of the community. The leader referred to ran thus: “The Catholics of New Zealand provide an excellent education for their own children, yet such is the policy of the New Zealand legislature that they compel the Catholic body, after_ providing manfully for the education of their own children, to contribute (o the education of other peop'e’s children. This is tyranny, oppression and plunder.” That little tickler made good for years and was only abandoned under a new regime in the hope that abstention from irritation might succeed when plain speaking faded. Needless to say. the hope was futile. I was very pleased in reading your latest effusion to note (hat you had taken to reading the story of Ireland. I do hope you will not rest till you have mastered the contents of the whole book. Though written for children it is calculated to give food for thought, even to experienced journalists. If you could prevail on your gifted contributor who has charge of “Shaun’-. Patch" to include occasionally a verse or Iwo from the unique collection of poetic pieces which abound in the book, your readers would have a still greater appreciation of hi? efforts. Paren-

- thetically I may remark that in the case - of one of the children, for whom the bonk ; was written, the irony of fate was exempli--1 I lied in that the author’s son has joined the ; ! enemies of his country and uses his gifts in l the profession of the law to bolster up the 1 system against which his father spent a long and useful life protesting, in writings, i speeches, and whole-souled devotion to every | cause for the well-being of his countrymen. | Ireland's national poet has written “mi- • prized are her sons till they learn to be- . tray.” The line fits well in with the case of this man, who is known as “Shoneen 1 Sullivan.” Your reading of the “Story of Ireland” leads you to see on!;/ a bit of blundering on the part of the British Govcm- . meat in relation to the Irish famine. I am . sure you will not take it ill of me if I recommend you to extend your acquaintance with (his sad period of Ireland’s checkered story. I can promise you the most saddening and maddening study you ever engaged . in. “The History of the Irish Famine” has been written with painstaking diligence and freedom from bias by the Rev. Canon O'Rourke, If the book is not in the Athenaeum I shall be happy to lend you a copy of it. There will you sec, amongst heartrending accounts of the awful visitation which ewept away more than a million of the population, the feelings of the juries who

sat to examine into the causes of death and their determination to bring in verdicts of wilful murder against Lord John Russell, the head of the O&vcrnnicrt, not merely for blundering but for callously standing in the way of giving the rcltsf which would have saved numberless lives. Remember it is not against the people of England there is any charge of criminal neglect The English people showed themselves most humane and generous in supporting the various private philanthropic efforts made to stay the ravages of famine. Hut the Government of that day, like all English Governments in dealing with Ireland, proved itself incapable of sympathising with a people that preferred death to the sacrifice of principle. Indeed Lord French, the present Lord Lieutenant, as we saw in the cables before invincible Derry cut him off ignominiously from the roll of its citizens, declared that the Government of Ireland from Westminster was impossible as the English Government never understood the Irish people. Mentioning Derry reminds me that you devole a portion of your Tuesday’s editorial to the claims of Ulster of which Derry is a conspicuous city. In my desire for your complete education on Irish affairs I take the liberty of recommending you another book which has recently appeared and caused no little stir. This book is written by a man with no bias towards Ireland England or Scotland. An American of the Americans. who occupied an important post in the fit ring out of the American army that came so opportunely to the aid of the world when things looked black for the Allies. George Creel in his work “Ireland’s Fight for Freedom,’’ gives us the result of his personal observations made during a visit to Ireland recently. Notwithstanding your reiterated | jeremiad about England’s neglect of propaganda work in America this man from hearing England’s goodness and Ireland’s ingratitude trumpeted around, came over to make an independent examination at close quarters and his finding? are most interesting. In his chapter on the “Ulster Problem,” he says “With the British Government as Intrrpretary voice the world knows little i nough of Irish history as a whole. While as for Irish internal affairs ignorance is so profound as to be almost solemn. The aver- | age American, for instance, has a general | impression that Ulster is at least half of i Ireland, that it is settled solidly by Scotch Presbyterians, that. it. is a unit against Home Rule,” This is the view that England desires the world to take and it has diffused th s point of view very carefully and cleverly by written and spoken word until it has taken hold of the sub-conscious thought of the great majority of people.” He sum- | marises the Ulster claim as follows:—(I) Ulster is a homogeneous; Unionist and Protestant community. (- 1 Ulster has all the •wealth and industry of Ireland and (National! Home Rule would merely place thrift and enterprise at the mercy of ignorance and improvidence. (3) The prosperity of Ulster is due entirely to English rule, and rather than be divorced from this beneficent sovereignty, Ulster will fight In the death. (4) (National) Home Rule would subject this Protestant minority to the despotism of Rome and the bigotries of the. Roman Catholic, majority. Commenting on the first of these assertions he |«>ints out that the total population of Ulster is 1,551,f)06, that of Ireland as a whole is 4,375,554. And he rightly concludes that if such a minority forced their will on such a majority none of the recently formed omous nations would exwt for in eacn there is a bitter minority. He points to the amazing fact that all the principal fomenters of" the Ulster rebellion are outsiders, none of thorn are Ulstermen. In order to te-t the value of the assertion that Ulster is Unionist and Protestant, unanimously hostile to any scheme of national self go\ernment he appeals to the result of the General election of 1918. Leinster, Munster and Connaught went almost as a unit for Sinn Fein. In the fourth province, Ulster, the Unionists did not contest Cavan. In Donegal the Unionists lost the only one of the four seats contested In Monaghan, binn Fein swept the country. Here we have three counties, Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan, lire lifted out of rebel Ulster. In Tyrone two peats out of three went to National Home Rule, 30,086 votes for and 24.990 against. In Fermanagh the Unionists got absent and Sinn Fein got the other, the voting being Home Rule 12,909 and 11,292 Unionists. By the law of majorities Tyrone and Fermanagh counties are also lifted out of “rebel Ulster.” In Antrim and Armagh the Unionists put. in their men. In County Down Home Rule gained one seat, the Unionists four. In Derry County Unionism prevailed, but in Derry city a Sinn Fein member was returned. Analysing the votes he finds the following peicentages in favour of Ireland;—Cavan 100, Donegal 89, Monaghan S3, Fermanagh 53, Tyrone 54, Antrim 15, Derry 36, Armagh 41, Down 34, U.ifast 48, Derry City 51. In his book ho gives a map showing present, political boundaries in Ireland and in looking at it I am reminded that Daniel O’Connell once called attention to the remarkable resemblance in the outline of the map of Ireland to an Irish terrier standing on his hind legs. In this map the dog’s body and nose are marked “solid Sinn Fein,” the top of the head and the dog’s collar corresponded with the Unionist portion, and yet they talk of a clean cut between north and south ! The religious census of Ulster is summed up thus; Catholics 690,134, Presbyterian

■121,566, Protestant 366.176, Methodist 48,400. Coming to (he second assertion that Ulster has all the wealth and enterprise and therefore objects to the domination of poverty and idleness, the answers to this are matters of official record. On the face of the tax returns Dublin’-; gross annual value of property exceeds £11,000,000, whilst that of Belfast is less than £6,400,000. Dublin pays an income tux of £360,000, which is more than £150,000 above that of Belfast. The Government rateable value of Ulster is only 72 shillings, that of Leinster is 98 shillings. The Ulster rate though a pound higher than that of Connaught is only a fraction above (hat of Munster. So Ulster, instead of being (he richest province, is in reality a poor second with Munster only a breath behind. As this letter is already long enough I must ask your Indulgence to postpone the other points to another letter and I hope to be able to show that your contention that the recent municipal elections have reduced the power of Sinn Fein, is not in accordance with the facts. —I am, etc.. lONA. June 3.