IRELAND'S CLAIM STATED

New Zealand Tablet, 6 December 1906, Page 11

IRELAND'S CLAIM STATED

By 'T. P.'

I'ask leave (writesthe gifted and versatile T. P. 6'Cdnnor,: jVLP., in the 'North American :, f ! to give a : short;'' statement of the cause.of Ireland: and-especially that she makes to ... the sympathy, of the people . of tlie" United states'; ••-;'"■'' VWihiat is. -the claim of Ireland ? Jtr is that /there may., he -restored bo her that;of which she';was;robbed-: Tb,ere are ;^ some;rpe.opie; .who !are .jmder the impres- ■ - sipn ;Ethat the. J, demand.;pf -Irelandi is., for the creatipnof something revoj.utiohary,; that never' : existed heforev, The ilrish Parliament, cribbed, v aiua.. i cpnfined, ; recognised-: as. a. separate.; assembly, had ;■ existed ,in = ireland foivwas' destroyed...•: i is ■ the, restoration" of V an ; assembly,, and of- ;a^national as:<* "ancient; as,that .of the Hungarians ;,: and England^like*;: 'Austria;, ' will. ,pniyo;bei ■:-.■; ■.:■ - K '•,-.■ -h;- ■ : . ;-^vi ; ;>; : i::'-- : "i.-vM" Restoritig'the Old, r;,f ' ; r>; and ;V np ; t [the ; ne.\v%--.when ; vshe: : :again . to jif .-,:: ,v^I liavc" spoken of that Parliament as having been destroyed by force and by fraud. On that point there; is no? contest among; historians-- ; L'ecky; who; Unfor-- - tunately, became iir-liis -old -■ age ■ an' .enemy of "the na-.

Uoncil demand, has, in page -aftei page of LLs> famous lustoiy, desenbed the conupt means by. > which the Act of Union, which destioycd the Irish Pailiament, was biought about, Gladstone ha&'<:haiacterised the conduct of Pitt—the thief Minister responsible 1 foi the "business —by Ike stiong' epithet, r Blackguaid ' __ JThe two houses of the x lush Pailiament, which suilendeied Ireland's lights, had no national, authonty to do "so Though four-fifths of ,the Irish population, then, as now, weie Catholic, not one Catholic sat in Sale of Liberties by a small and con up t oligarchy, which, under * the mtoleiant system then in existence, was placed in contiol of all Ireland's population .and all Ireland's destinies The Act of Union passed by such questicn able means, mfght claim some sanctity if the lesults had aiiaweied loathe piomises by which it was caiiud It was to make lieland piospeious, fiee, in a bettcL position than she was while luled by hei own Parliament Above all, Ireland was io gain'in wealth and in fair taxation b} the powei* and geneiosity of hei neighbor. - *• tIsothing could be moie tragic than the contrast between the succeeding facts and these anticipations Listen to this bnef summary British rule in lieland' L»nce the Act of- Union^ — ' 1 Three famines l " ' 2 Three rebellions. ,* ; s r 3 "Ninety Coercion Acts, depnving lieland of* - all the liberty supposed to be fundamental, in the JBntisb Constitution—suspension and ovei again, foi example-, of habeas- corpus, suspension of tnal by juiy, suspension of free speech, L.ge wiitmg, and w fice meeting w - The woist of these thiee famines was that of 1846. It is computed that a million people died of hunger ol pestilence in that dreadful- yet m those vciy ycais lieland pioduced more food than .would c have fed all her population Famine, plague, want of liberty—these are the things which have pioduced <. » _^ The Great lush Emigration, '-.jsT""" and have lobbed lieland in half a century of'lialF heirpopulation . . t r lhe x\ct of Union, thus, sfhUc depriving lieland of the contiol of her own afTaiis/ has led jto the most disastious failuie in all histoiy in the ait of government 1 he- Act, in addition, was responsible for the worst land system in li.ui.ope—a system which put a penalty on industry, which gave to the-ulandloid the full fiuits of the laboi of his tenants,-and which, placing in his hands the one ""industry of Ireland, enabled him to destioy the home, to J blight the lives, to exile and even to Kill thousandsoorf r the Irish people ~<) By then fiuits shall you know them Weie theie ever such temble ana tiagic fruits as these fiom a legislative measuie "' ' Take taxation, finally. An English Royal Commission repotted that Ireland was j ~ Oveitaxpd • lo th2 extent of $.17,500,000 (£3,500,000) a yeai This gnevance, of being redressed, has been aggravated by the additional taxation rendered necessary by tho foolish, unnecessary, and wicked wai with the Boei Republics A member ot the present administration, Mi Thomas Lough, lias summod up the case v of Ireland on this, point in the sentence ' Since 'the Union the population- ol lieland has halved , the taxation of Ire- • land has doubled ' The picsent system in lieland Ls as remarkable foi its extiavagancc, foi its folly, and foi its meiheiency as foi its want "of moial light in the assent of the governed There aie foity-two public, boaids, each moie inefficient than the othet he tune of most young lush boys and guls—is bad/ioot a.id blanch, fiom top to bottom The " elementaly schools are, often in squalid cottages, badly ventilated, and in \' liter the fuel has olten had to be piovided out of the poor salaries of the teacheis While in Tiinity College the Piotestant minonty has eveiy advantage of university education, the JCatholic youth of lieland foi two generations have* been demanding in vain a univcisity in which Ca,t holies may <■ find education without a sacnfice_ of thcii leligious convictions J 7 Thcie is scaicely a depaitmcnt of' hum-an me which is not picjudiccd by this inefficient system. I almost wept Oiice as Lady Dudlcv—wife of the gentleman who but the other day was Toiy Lord Lieutenant of Ireland—told me of the temble ravage of disease, mostly - tubciculosis, on the western slides -of ' lieland—lavages

mainly raged amonghelpless children, who grew up. with hip disease and lung- and ofteh died: just as .tll«y\;appr.oach■e^( : wotnunhqbd. I have, only time' to mentionthat; side by side ■frith this yast'- area-' of J'p&ve^^ . tiohs among tkc 'p^ry' jl liKeji?c fffie ? - .'■■-.;> ''--'j-: - 'Of 0 administration l ih the > world; We; haye'. three -timesp as many ; l Judges --as' ; are : get''double salary ! tlicy .sfrb'uTdv ' _:'<•/-'•;.>-- We have, instead of a;.: police, force qX some -two; or ihree' thousand' meriy an army of: of 1 ISJOOO. Jobbing is universal''among the official classes.: Next: to- the holding- down of : rn/pst" abhorrent- thing ih :; ! tlier system corruption, of '* the' best intellect of Irelaiutby -innumerable offices and extravagant salaries; :;.-•:;•* The- villainous system -is 'doomed. "The/ present; Prime Minister of England, packed''by the biggest•/■■majority of any Minister in modern,, times, is pledged to its extinction, and he is : an vhbno v rahle v man. The British constituencies have pronounced against it by the overwhelming defeat of the .party that stood, for , ,its perpetuation: The' hour ,of " lr^iand's deliyeifahce 'is at hand. . '■"..-:' ' ■ ""•''■■''C : .: - ; '-' l' "\"/.•"."/■■'.".'''.'■;'.;..;._. ...„'.';.*'-;'