The The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1920. THE GENTLE ART.

Southland Times, Issue 18851, 17 June 1920, Page 4

The The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1920. THE GENTLE ART.

j 1 he final hitler front the flowing pen of I "lona’ is msuructivi' for all v. ho would cure in interest ! boiuselves in ike Irish problem. | tor it give.- us a vi"\v of the lr;.-h mind and 1 ot the cum i.r; ecrsial methods that are 100 "it.'" toll, Adopting th ( * practice that we have found most useful with lona on i other occasions, we wit! take his statements end comments seriatim and discover what I hey all amount to. In the first, place ho will surds- excuse our hi tic .-how of irritation, Wv had 7 1 dl" i him through years and yea.;- of ancient hi.- lory only to arrive at a di"dar.!t;oii ih-t do! no! touch t ho ;--i.o Eovve.'ii ip, t hat v.hardly worth taking wruusly. Out' irritation sprung trout di-oppoi.e toeto i and front the inferi riotd’y poor e-tunate of our intelligence. to:no; ton- evens- of to-Pay. ioma i- eer- :: :my c-'o rci t when he says ! hat we have . -Mr. --I- 1 ilf opinion that- th" "dotiide par ;i;n. It i- not perfe." am we admit, but il li-mm Eul", the rich---; pan according to 'EI-tar a parliament, but. best of ail. it puis get her in a national eotmed. By ilm: '/! can . v. e hope, as the (’■■■ i "!i "re of the -ala nto hop", that the billenr -s which ex-i-t a v.audi even lona cannot dismiss as mcnf-. will be rrnaad, and Ireland will Ilil'imiP !v If.'." p'o p-romiy ate! e-ini-n’ ■ ■ 11 I ilk about Sinn l-o; i h.-t ah, retire- w? are prepared to admit ilia,: an independent Lei.-ad i p-'--:k!o. 1 ft:idly it is no!, and a ibe N-uiomdi a-- v. aut- I. will not give ■ it- a United Ireland until a lot of the ! present id erne - lire blown away. Jt i . ! mu el.".r th ! to-' majority of irishmen in Irelan.l want italop-mk aa-a lona has ; .it!-.ted, the figure- of the ! 9 H elections as i showing [.position to England but , t figures r. ve-d lino dan Edu .-moot A-ptnth eon. 1. nine..! Eitbkn ('a-'lle, and so did Mr M. yd < ."'-ye. but not a- a tyrannical in- ■’ ntimi. Tyrtnrty a u-dul v.ard - like patent m- iM'iii"-, t - a!! -ret- of ills, real o - imaomao. y. air A-q't.lh ;/ a [.olivet hi- pim.o-d l-o- th- ■ o! i;: ;o a of Irelan,id • - and-.- v,a- niia' • Tim Bill of DM with g-0v;.;.,.,, ur a tVng.e M Labour pro- .-. I "--if <!<" enti i-on" . Eng a- il ! f i e. oar". admitting th-1 the Iri-h pci.l.. would b" b: g!u into closer touch a- a vr.v I - ! b ana IPdo. But if I Jt.it ii i u i- "tyraiiim what are the men wav to !)ivhm .-.Tvice. murder private i m a 11 ltd I't-opi' vim -"..odd not be irrii:o,..l: If low. mi l ! ■ o ■, ■ ti*' eau.-.g t.nd off.f in ,'rebind with rkrer-.‘yes lie will trace a rli.-dn of events wine;! will -how that Finn E-in act ; vh v- of a. Em lew nature have a i " v ; tt-ae-dmi the Cre-''"'- "tyranny," In ip p a P < [ov.-rati mn; ha- ,-h.iwn patience or he n "V like to rail it apathy inr greater than the Sirin Fein would have obtained from any other nation on t no earth. I he murder of Ih” Finn i'an Mayor of Cork *. re: vnatldng, beyond, tlie confines of ) Cota-'. Em we hone that lona is not trying to -tav.m.-t that .Mr MeCurtain was the vici P.i ,-,f ' ina-la.ud or Mr Eloyd George. Sus-pi'-.ion falls much nearer Cork, The acts of the sister of the Lord-Lieutenant tire of no more moment than the "apostasy” of 1 (fir de-rendnot of the author of "A Story of ; Ireland.” lona hark- back to the idea that j the ’u,holders of British law in Ireland are 1 merely intent on provocation. Provocation 1 of wind? Open rebellion? With the "extermination of the Irish” to follow? At this point we come to the beginning of the discussion- -de Valera's suggestion that Irish troons in Gallipoli and Mesopotamia were deliberately murdered by the Imperial Government as part of a plan to hill off (ho Irish. lona invites our readers to say that hj" has proved that our "first editorial was not a judicious exposition of the state of

affairs in Ireland.” Ho is quite right; it was not. It did not mention affairs in Ireland at all. The first editorial dealt entirely with Mr de Valera’s exploits in America in the "gentle art of propaganda,” and referred to the fact (hat lying had not died out entirely. This last statement by lona, this further indulgence in target practice at targets upreared by himself, has shaken our confidence in him and we fear that our readers will be with us in this doubt.