Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 32, 7 August 1902, Page 9

Irish News.

OUR IRISH LETTER.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Dublin, June 3, 1902

It is a great pity that, instead of coming over here gracefully with Homo Rulo in Queen Alexandra's hands, as her first gift to Ireland, their Majesties should have allowed) themselves to bo influenced by Lond Londonderry, J,ord Ardilnun (of Guinness and Co , brewers), and. their clique, and should havo been persuaded to begin their reign with the gift of Coercion, which means) little less than martial law for Ireland. It ha 3 always been said that hia Majesty is not unfavorable to autonomy for this country, but the) landlord party are making- a hardf struggle to rid tho land of the peasantry, and have got the oar of tho Government, with the result that tho gaols are agteun being filled with inon) whose only crime is that they ane joining with the people in a movement to keep the peasantry at home in their native land and obtain for them, o-n fair terms, as much of that! land as will enable them \a> nuike homes for their families, and once; more people a fertile country that has lost half of its agricultural' population within the last 50 years, and that while tho soil of Ireland could easily support throe times its present population. Royalty loves popularity; how much more grateful to the King and Queen would bo the Irish welcome they would receive it they came to give graciously that) which must one day be con ceded to Ireland, as it has been to tho colon-* ies. Coercion. Crimoless the country is. l,et u« take Cork, tho largest county in lieland, as a sample of the other counties. About a month ago wo had, tho Recorder of Cork complaining m court that ' his knowledge of cruni-< nal law is getting musty for want of some criminals to practise upon,' and yesterday wo had the same gentleman speaking to the Grand Jury as follows 'Now, again, I ha-vo tho honor of presiding here at borough sessions, and I am happy to tell .\ou that I havo to repeat mj congratulations. . . . Gentlemen, 1 mostl heartily and sincerely oongi atulatc you upon such a state of things, and I do so more cordially because I am not now adopting am thing exceptional in my address lam merely repeating that which, session afteV session, I have the honor of saying in this court ' And \et there is coercion and men are sent daily to gaol for ' not ' breaking tho law In a prosecution which was instituted recently by tko Crown in tho West of Ireland one of the Magistrates on tho bench declared that what he saw as against the defendant was that ho was doing no harm, yet tho defein dant was required to give bail that ho would not do it again, and on ]Lha defendant's refusal to make such an absurd promise, he was .sent to prison for a month. Hero is a question for logicians What was it tho Magistrates wanted ihe man to do or not to do ? Gorman Visitors Still, wo are keeping up our heartsi and dancing and singing to while; away tho time, as if there worn no war taxes, no gaols, no increased Incomo Tax on reduced incomes This month tho dancing and smymg camo to a climax for all classes" for tho now well-established Oiivachtas, Fois Ceoil, and other Trish nievting^ took place, when good folk, old and young, assembled from all coiners of] tho Green Isle and competed for 1 prizes in Gaelic composition, oratory, singing, stop-dancing, Irish pipes, harps, bands, etc , while at) tho same time we had a visit from, tho German fleet of wan-ships, 10 in

number, with Prince Henry of Prussia in command, and great were the gaities in honor of the Prince and officers ; balls, concerts, Gaelic meetings, bazaars, polo-matches, (tho Prince, says a good authority, isi very fond of polo, but is a poor player), all came in for a share of the German custom and the officers wondered openly and often if our beautiful littlo capital was always as/ gay as they found it. The sailors and marines, 6000 of whom manned the fleet, came in for their shane of popularity nNo Two thousand men landed each day, and the humbio people fratornisod warmly with them, taking them here, there, and everywhere, and initiating those who could speak only a little English! into all tne mysteries of local politics and showing them every Dublin sight worth seeing : ' Come out and we'll show you Glasnevm cemetery and O'Connell's grave, and where ParneU is buried. Come with us) and we'll show you where Tommy Mooro was born, a'tid where Lord Edward is buried, and tho place where Robert Emmett was executed, there's our own Parliament House, an' will be again, please God, and we'll have the Emperor of Germany over to open it, faith we will ! And that's Trinity College wheno they half starved poor Goldsmith when ho was a boy, and then put hist statue up outside, as pr.oud of him as can be, when he was dead And €hat statue beside him is Burke, tho greatest orator that ever was, except Daniel O 'Council, that could] abuse the King of them days in his own German, as plain and as natural as ho could warm the hearts of tho Irish in our own tongue.' In fact, it was not tho fault of tho people if the Germans did not feel' at home and heartily enjoy then" week in Dublin. Tho men were oxw ceedingly well conducted and sober, but, of course, they must bo sol kmon fourponce halfpenny a day Tho small nes^ of the men's pay is made up for m the amazing number of buttons on their uniform, m facti, it is surmised that in tho time of war 1 theso buttons can bo utilised as .ammunition, rmnco the great tuian-i tity ranged upon the men's sleeves, from which they can bo quickly plucked off. Butt, of a certainty, the countries that have so far managed to pull along without a navy should tlnnk twice before 'indulging in such a luxury ; only to see one day's food' being sent out from shore to these fiOOO idle men, and th on to counfj for a moment tho cost of tho gneat ships lying idle, tho clothing and' pay of tho men and officers, the \ery cost of the useless, ugly cannonading, that every now and again shook tho houses along shore and did no good to any li\iug creature — surely the gaono of na\y is not worth 'tho candle. A Danger. This visit from tho Germans evoked one very curious comment m tho Juno number of tho ' National Review ' (England) Speaking ofl the visit of the Gorman sq,uadron, under Princo Henry of Prussia to Trish waters tho writer remarks : ' For tho lirst time in our history a foreign force superior bo any squadron which wo have in commission in homo waters, superior, indeed, to any individual squadron of any navy in waters outside the Mediter-f ranean, has boon at work upon our coasts performing evolutions, lear.nmg the navigation of our harbors, and training for war This force, comes to-day as a friend, hut wo know enough of the openly-expressed intentions both of the German nation and of the men who direct Herman policy, to understand that in tho futuro it may como as an enemy . ' A Centenary Tho centenary of our great poet, Tommy Moore's birthday was celebrated on Thursday last by a lcc-

turo and concert in the rooms of thel National Literary Society. Strangeto say, this Society, which is only] in existence a complanatively few years, claims to have rescued Mooro from obscurity ! while the fact ia that "Moore was idolised and wag popular with every man, woman, and child in Ireland in his lifetime, and has been equally idolised and! popular over since. Bogies. Mr. T. W. Russell, H.l\, and late member of his Majesty's Government, is now, as you know, an active agitator for abolition of landlordism and of the vast tracts! of land let out to cattle-grazing. Ha has been recently on a tour in thq West of Ireland, in company with certain English members of Parliament whom ho has been educating on the subject of the pnesent agitation to get the land for the people. Mr. Russell is a strict Protestant ancj represents an Ulster constituency, but one of his political opponent^ has started a new rendering of the throe Rs, and ' Redmond, Russell; and Rome ' are the three bogies ofl the landlord party.