The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1920. THE IRISH PROBLEM.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3410, 14 February 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1920. THE IRISH PROBLEM.

With which 113 incorpcmtco “The Taihape Post. an 3 Waimarino News.” ‘

The ever verdant Irish problem is brought more impressively under notice of people in these far away Doniinrms than ever before by cabled reports of a nir-etrng held in the Albert Hall, Lon.don, at which Mr Griffiths, ActingPresident of the Sinn Fein Irisii Republic stating his case, and by the report of an interview granted to the reizresentative, in London, of the Australian Press Association. Still, that information, if it exists, is not forthcoming that would compel honestthinking men .to shift their ground from the measure of ’Home- Rule that truly great Irishinen, men that will live honoured_ in history long into the dim future, gave their whole lives on earth to atta. .., Those men fought honourably, lawfully, and bravely, and they ended their lives knowing that they had left nothing opposing the lattainment of their ideal, but the greed of a few interested men who wqre influential enough to pull the reing guiding the British Government. O’Connell Parnell, and Redmond were not mere partisans, nor were their efforts begat of self-seeking; they were pure patriots who foresaw that the great ppsobleni with which they were coneerned might not always be the subject of lawful solution; they realised, and said so, that bloodshed and hatred of {L comprehensive and bitter nature might replace fervour and patriotism in times to come. We read their lapPcals until we become affected and obsessed with their fervour and earnestness; does the patriotism of Mr Grrifiiths have any such psycliologieal effect upon any rational human temPefiiment? There was a time when all Ireland could have been pacified and satisfied: when the chronic perennial, though just, discontent of the Irish pcoplg was stoma-ble, and could have been turned into channels of loyaltfi’ and brotherly love towards the Empire of which Ireland is no unimPol't9~“f Part; and it is still unthinkabh‘ in NlO ranks of the great Empire majoirity that Ireland should. ever become a foreign nation. acting as such and I'oQ,‘flNlod as s.;':h. For hundreds of years Irishmen and Irish blood has inter-mingled ahd comniinglcd with Bntons and British blood; Irishmen havf rise" to the hlgliest and most honourable positions in »tli'g pm-liament, of the realm. and to-day almost every °tl}ol' Pt‘-TsOll 0110 meets has in their Vems Some Sprillkling of the_blood of which li-ishmen are justly In-oud_ WOll may we ask, how far sh.-ll any body of assassins be allowed to Qlamry fhoil. ‘destruction of the blood relationship, llltlnlaippfolloWShi]'), and brotherhood of ideals that is everywhere observable throughout the whole ‘Empire. “Time was when Britain could have magnugmi. moglsly given that full Home Rule Fhmh gl'93'C Irish Nationalists strove 0-I‘; but the. greed of the vulture class, wrtli their 111-gotten ‘money’ land and power stepped in and blocked the way of'Engl'and’s peace with Ireland. Bri--tarn refused that measure of Home Rule which Irelan'd asked for mat Would have cemented lasting fr-ioml— Sh‘-P and co-operation‘, am] the hatred and revolut.ion'a'rr_V spirit that Parnell and Redmond foresaw has now to be contended with. Sinn Feinis-m is nothmg more or less than a reincarnation of Fenianism, a Fenianism that has become desperate, and bold because there are no great patriots to labour in pre-"ont-i"{{ the Irish people from drifting

into roVOlllfioll. Both Fenianism and ‘Sine Fcinisfll are chairacterised, and lklloW.n chiefly; by their cowardly as- ! sassinations, by their tiger-like stealth j in taking their victims’ fives unawal.es_ We 533’ this trait is despicable and re-.-volting to all honourable-minded people, be the)’ Irish or citizens of any other CiViliSo<l Country, and however much we support the struggle for Home Rule which woul‘d enable Irishmen to rule themselves as New Zealanders rule themselves, we cannot dishonour the memory of those great Irish patriots by placing them in the same category with the Phoenix park mlll‘d€l'oTs: and the present-day assassins with which Mr Grifliths claims to have a measure of sympathy, Mr Gl-jf fiths and the Irish Repubfic are rush. ing in where the O’Connell angel would have feared to tread, but Dan O’Con-‘ nell’was actuated by other motive“; O’Connell was obsessed, consumed,! with patriotism and love of his people 1 and Country; he did nothing to spin. one drop of Irish blood. Is Irish blood ! to be held so cheaply today that it] may be thrown away in gl-at-ifyingl the abnormal lust for power of a few! scheming half-breeds? Leaders of the] Irish Republic movement have beenl discovered red-handed in allying them. selves with Germany in an effort to‘ overthrow the British Empire, to set back the march of civilisation, and of‘ involving the Whole Irish people in a bloo‘dy revolution, which, had it succeeded, may have thrown back the Irish -ciause isndeternvinvaltely, §_);[ac.in,q Ireland in a similar position to -that which Germany now finds itself. We cannot help thinking thai Ireland is misguided in following the republican revolutionaries, and when all that Mr Griffiths stated to his interviewer is considered that -opinion is not in the least shaken. What Mr Grifiiths -has Stated has '6O be juxtaposed with the Sinn Fein post; with the assassinations the Sinn Fcin refuse to ‘diseountenonce; the conniving with Germany during the war; the landing from German submarines of arms and munitions whercwith to start a bloody revolt against Britain as well as against lawabiding Irishmen No. Mr Grifiiths is not convincing only in so far as his desire for power seems to have enslaved him. He claims that thidt republic is not going to denounce murder and assassination of perfectly innocent people, on the stupid plea that men are goaded to such diabolical, revolting acts by the British‘ Government. Mr Griflithg might as reasonablyblow up the earth because he cannot get pos-I session of the moon. Crime is crime,j no matter by whonnit is committo‘d,l and crime must be punished and re—* pressed or civilisation and life become unsafe. Mr Grifliths illogically and ridiculously argues that if Ireland is regarded ‘as the Key to the Atlantic it could only be so as a me-nacg to America. Mr Griffiths is disingenuous, for he cannot have forgotten the frequent visits of German submarines to Ireland with arms, to enable the republic to revolt. Mr Grifi"ltlls claims '3 free use of brute force while, like the Germans, he refuses a similar I'iglit. to his opponents. He resents ‘xthreais from any quarter while he tlireatens the world if he is not given what he wants; he says, “The security of Europe, America, and the world demands the indepcndence of Ireland.” He admits that Engla,nd’s physical possession of Ire~ land is a fact, but he has nothing ‘to ofi'er but threats of revolt, assassination, and insecurity of the whole earth if his abnormal desire for power are not gratified by Britain going to him. cap pi hand, as president. of the republic, handing over all Ireland and all Irish people to him to do as he pleases with. Mr McNeill’s reference to American in‘dependon(ce at the Sallie intervciow, was unfortunate. It is quite true ’tllat’A.morican lind~epe.udonce was worked out under the British constitution, and by British m'aclliuory, but Mr McNeill is guilty of the suggestio falsi in unfairly" assuming for his own purpose a belief that American independence resulted from , systematic assassination ' and robbery‘ and a threat against the security of the ; world. America. is tlrousands of miles ‘ from Britain, while Ireland only at stone’s throw away, so clo.._sc that itj mav be taken as a n'.ltural decree that! the“ interests of Ireland are those of England. So much so that it is notg ihinkablc that any Irish republici would be eountenanced by the Empire that permitted an alliance with Brit ¢;ain’s enemies to secure Bi-.ita.in’s de-I sh-ucfion. Home Rule, in. the fullest understood sense, Ireland has a right to, and if the selfishness of a few had‘ not intervened, it is: quite safe to, assume the Irish p‘roblrm would have been a negligible quantity to-day; that nationalism of O’Connell, Parnell, and} Redmond would have friuniphed. and Sinn Feinism may have been on wet known quantity. But gwerl never re-I lents, never looses its tentacles whenl once mlade fast to communities untill revolt destroys them and scatters the-1 riches they have inhumanly accumu—l lated. The cry to-day is for recon-. struction that involves the destruction: of the rights of the people, and the cry against Ireland by an aristocratic or the ‘ aut_ocratic few, has rendered Ireland the shuttlecoek ‘to be bandied anld‘ bufl-‘eted between firitish autocrats and;

Irish republicvan assassins. Unfortun-

ately‘, despite what Mr G-riifiths endeavoured to establish in the popular mind, Ireland is seriously divided, and as the tendency of all laws is the protection of minorities, Ulster cannot, in all honou'r lain'd good faith, be thrown to the republican assassins against its poople’s will. Interested men have used Ulster to prevent any form of Home Rule being granted to Ireland, and there is evidence that they will never relent, even though the world is thrown back to conditions obtaining for cenfiiries after the overtlirow of_ Roman civilisation by the Gauls. T-he Irish problem is a latent growth of the progress of LlB~ mocracy against aiutocl'a.'cy and feudal~l ism. Like the Russian problem, if no‘ definite attempt is made to solve it‘! satisfactorily, it may solve itselfl through a flowing stre*a,ln of Irish and! British blood.