IRISH NEWS

New Zealand Tablet, 20 February 1919, Page 31

IRISH NEWS

- GENERAL. . ' Archbishop Walsh, of Dublin, is said to have voted in the last election, this being the first vote he cast since be became Archbishop of Dublin over ■3O years ago. His Grace is understood to have voted Sinn Fein. One of the Irish Sinn Fein deportees, Mr. Richard Coleman, of Dublin, died recently in Usk Prison, where he was interned. Pneumonia following influenza » was the cause of death. Seven other prisoners in Usk are down with the same disease. Mr. Coleman was interned without trial or accusation. Dr. D. J. Coffey, Vice-Chancellor, presided in Dublin at a meeting of the Senate of the National University, at which Canon MacCaffrey, D.D., was coopted a member of the Senate. He was also appointed pro-Vice-Chancellor, along with Sir Bertram Windle and Mr. Alex. Anderson. A resolution was passed taking powers by statute to establish in the University the additional degree Ph.D., common to all Faculties, to be obtainable by graduates of foreign universities as well as their own graduates. “I see,” said the Lord Mayor of Dublin at a meeting of the Corporation the other day, “that the Chief Secretary for Ireland, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where ho was angling for the Irish vote, has told his audience that the interned men were not only receiving ‘German gold’ but ‘American gold’ also; and as time goes on it will be, I suppose, called an ‘American plot, and, now that America has saved Paris from being destroyed and London from being sacked, we will hear, perhaps, that the American President is in collusion with interned Sinn Feiners to establish the independence of our country.” The death was announced from Wexford, Ireland, in the last week of December of the Rev. P. F. Kavanagh, 0.F.M., an Irish Franciscan, ■who was regarded as a special authority on the history of the 1798 insurrection. Father Kavanagh was a grandnephew of Father Michael Murphy, a Wexford priest who was killed in the insurrection, and much of what he wrote was derived from personal communication with participants in the struggle. His death was sudden and tragic. In the morning he was found dead in his room in a kneeling posture, as if he had passed away at prayer. His lastjoublic act was to vote for the Sinn Fein candidate in South Wexford. December 22 y as Wilson Day in Ireland. Meetings were held in more than fifty towns, and resolutions drafted by the Sinn Feiners inviting President Wilson to visit Ireland and pledging him Ireland’s support were adopted. At most of the meetings Constitutional Nationalists joined with the Sinn Feiners. The attitude of the Unionists is that the President will not interfere in the domestic politics of Ireland, but that he would be welcomed to Ireland to examine into real conditions and problems. The meeting at Dublin was presided over by the Lord Mayor. The city Trades Covijncil co-operated. At the meetings held under Sinn Fein auspices the majority of the speeches appealed to President Wilson not to overlook Ireland’s case at the Peace Conference. Mr. Winston Churchill is now of opinion -that Great Britain “could not compel the N.E. corner of Ireland” to accept enacted law, and he declares that the Coalition Government “has no intention of coercing these people to come into the Government of * Dublin” (says the Glasgow Observer). It was Winston’s father, Lord Randolph, who invented the “loyal” cry “Ulster will fight and Ulster will be '’right.” And Winnie himself, although against coercing Ireland now, had a slight taste himself of what coercion in Ulster means, . and had it at the hands of the Unionists. When .he visited Belfast, . being then First Lord of the Admiralty, the Belfast Harbor Commissioners refused him any reception, and the Belfast Tories refused him the use of the Ulster Hall (the Belfast' equivalent of the St. Andrew’s Hall, Glasgow), obliging him to take refuge in a canvas erec-

tion put up for his ; accommodation on the field of Belfast Celtic! * Winston • should go back to "Belfast now. •; He , will no doubt be welcomed by the ; Harbor Commissioners, and perhaps in the Ulster Hall. - ‘ The solemn consecration of Right Rev. Thomas . Broderick, Titular Bishop of Pednelissus, and first Vicar Apostolic of Western Nigeria, took place on Sunday, December 8, in the Cathedral, Killarney, his > Lordship Most Rev. Dr. O’Sullivan, Bishop of Kerry, being the consecrating prelate, and Most Rev. Dr. Cohalan, Bishop of Cork, and Most Rev. Dr. Hallinan, Bishop of Limerick, assistant consecrating y prelates.' Most Rev. Dr. Browne, Bishop of Cloyne, was also present. Most Rev. Dr. Kelly, Bishop of Ross, was unavoidably absent. There was a large gathering of clergy in the choir. The new Bishop was born at Kilflynn, County Kerry, on December 23, 1882, and was educated at , Wilton College, Cork, and the Lyons Seminary of the Society of African Missions. He was ordained priest in 1906, and has had much experience as a missionary on the Gold Coast and elsewhere. He • was appointed to a post at the Seminary,. Blackrock Road. Cork, on its opening in September, 1902, became Superior of the institution in 1911, and last month was nominated to his episcopal charge in Nigeria. - It was estimated that 850,000 young soldiers of Irish birth or lineage crossed the Atlantic in American uniform (says the Armagh correspondent of the Irish Weekly). A very large proportion of these gallant fighting men have friends and relatives in Ireland, and it is certain that 90 per cent, of them would have rejoiced at an opportunity of visiting the country of their forefathers. But it is certain that not 500 IrishAmerican soldiers have been to travel to Ireland. Why? The American military authorities could not have had any objection to the necessary “leave” if they were not “influenced” by the British War Office. One can see Irish-Americans Irish-Australians, and Irish-New Zealanders by the hundred in the streets of Belfast, Dublin, and Cork: there is not an Irish village in which their uniforms have not become familiar. But the Irish- American soldiers have been debarred from visiting Irelandand there are scores of thousands of Irish homes in which the disappointment to which our Armagh correspondent gives expression is keenly felt. It is a cruel and cowardly proceeding altogether —quite worthy of Lord Milner and Mr. Lloyd George. ARE THEY SINN FEINERS ? By they we mean the Government, and when we ask the question we do not hesitate to say that the evidence in favor of an affirmative answer is exceedingly strong (remarks the Catholic Times). Our Ministers have done and are doing everything possible to help the Sinn Feiners to confirm their contention that the case of Ireland is an international problem, and to make the condition of the country at this crisis such that it is bound to receive attention from President Wilson and the whole world. We feel quite sure that if the secret sentiments of the Irish Sinn- Feiners were known it would be found they feel that they owe a vote of thanks to them and, their agents. Lord French and Mr. Shortt, who are and have been so hostile to them. The Irish gaols have been filled with political prisoners. That was,not enough. A plot was invented. On the strength of it about a hundred leaders of the people were deported. .No trial is held. No charge is made. Though election days are supposed to be days of freedom, th e ey remain untried and incarcerated. They are not even accused- of whistling •' , , O derisively whilst a policeman is passing. What other methods of government could promote Sinn Fein doctrine so effectively? Who can wonder that his Eminence Cardinal Logue and his Grace Archbishop Walsh j „i j. ii.„ xT«4-:«Uni;..4- t„.u—i i j ct ll.Lt fUlliWt tut) WJ-HJic: U 1 11 aujuucbiiov uciami HttVU VUI/6U for Sinn Fein candidates, and are persuaded that Ireland’s cry against injustice and for the recognition of her national rights must be listened to by President Wilson and the Peace Conference? Who can deny, that by their undemocratic policy the Government have helped to make Ireland Sinn Fein?