VOICING ASPIRATIONS OF IRISH RACE

New Zealand Tablet, 17 April 1919, Page 34

VOICING ASPIRATIONS OF IRISH RACE

ADDRESS BY ARCHBISHOP GLENNON. Following is the complete address made by Archbishop John J. Glennon in behalf of freedom for Ireland at the mass meeting in St. Louis, U.S.A., on Sunday evening, February 9: When our Government in 1917 made a declaration of war against Germany our people responded as one man. Never before in all history did a democracy answer the call with such unanimity; and that unanimity has been preserved until victory came for our arms and our cause. During these long months of anxiety and trial, not for once did our people waver or lose heart. We felt we were right, and knew, therefore, we must prevail. And one reason for all this must be, first, the time that was given us to think if not to prepare, and the clarity with which the case was presented in the various and opportune addresses of our President. Every one of these days brought an added reason for our entering the conflict, just as every day's postponement meant an added danger for America.

We entered the war, first, to destroy that militarism which aimed at the conquest of Europe and which we reasonably feared would be turned on us when their European campaign was over. But just as definitely, and perhaps more so, we entered the war, secondly, that thereby we, a democracy, would seek at this time to end the oppressions and wrongs inflicted and being inflicted on the smaller and weaker nations by the more powerful neighbors. And lastly, as representing a self-governed people, we felt we owed to humanity the establishment of this principle, namely, the right of nations, great and small, to determine for themselves how and by whom they shall be governed. England May Assert Self on Sea. That these ends be achieved and that these principles might obtain, we trained and armed our men, built our ships, floated our bonds, set our armies in motion, and followed them with all the love and support of the nation. Not in all history has an army moved into battle array with nobler cause, which by its definitions and its clarity, became the property and inspiration of all. Our arms were victorious, as they had a right to be. There now remains only to be seen whether the principles which inspired us shall also triumph. One of our purposes has been solved—Germany with its militarism is conquered. The threat against us is removed. Neither now nor during the lifetime of any of us need we fear Germany as a foe nor flatter her. as a friend, nor is there danger of militarism surviving unless it be in this new form of naval supremacy being asserted by England. It is with the other, and more intimate principles, that we have to deal. It is with the question of whether oppression shall cease, and whether the principle of self-determination shall be established. Whether these.questions shall now be taken up and solved, whether these principles shall be applied. To this end our President crossed the seas. He representing America, was the first to announce them : and such was the clarity of his thought, its eloquence, and its honesty, that, though we were last to enter the war, these principles, accepted by friend and foe alike, became the basis. Our President felt, therefore, he

must defend them ; and to do so he heads the American delegates at the Peace Council. In his going, we stand with him in the same unity and devotion in the Councils of Peace, as with our soldiers fighting in the trenches. -

Of late, there is growing the fear that neither he nor his principles shall prevailthat secret diplomacy and national greed will take the place of the open treaty, and the honest principles which set the rights of nations and of men above the schemes of politicians and the tyranny of power. Ireland Still Ignored. True, our papers report some progress made—every day some boundary settled, some cause heard, some nation's definition made. We hear of the newly formed cabinets, of presidents elected, of contending parties following the ways of democracy, Belgium and Rumania on the way to restoration, Poland and Serbia will be recreated, the lost provinces restored to France and Italy, and so along the line. But over it all is the sinister shadow of an Ireland ignored. In reading, as you have read, the declaration of our President, and in recalling the principles which he so constantly announced, it requires no-logic to pee that, just as clearly and directly as the rays come from the sun, or heat from the fire, or rain from the skies, so flows from these principles the right of Ireland to self-determination. Set beside any of the other races now emerging or being restored to independent nationhood, Ireland in point of time, location, persistent striving or previous oppression, outranks them all. In saying so, I do not minimise the character of their rights. On the contrary, we stand for them all ; but every element of justice and of right, every charge of oppression, every appeal of race and blood made by these is doubly applicable when Ireland's cause is named.

But the trouble is that Ireland's cause is not even named ; and yet the presiding officer could readily go back in memory to a McMahon, who as President of France restored her from the ruins after her terrible defeat by the Germans in 187"0. Has he forgotten the Ireland that gave McMahon to France, and gave to her her victories in the long ago? Has he forgotten Ramillies and Fontenoy ? Deny Irish Their Rights. There also sits President Wilson, the one whose mission it is to see oppression ended, and democracy safe, and self-determination granted to the nations, great and small. It is he who demands the establishment of right. lie is the apostle of even-handed justice, and yet what an exhibition is before him. The representatives of England have come to the council prepared to deal with nations and problems great.and small, but, unfortunately, not with even-handed justice, not with broad-minded generosity, not in the spirit of fair play, of which they talk so much, for, while they claim the world mission of releasing other nations from thraldom, they challenge the world with a denial of Irish right to be free. The Ivameruns in-

terest them. They are the people of darkest Africa. They are still in the savage state, but some 10 or 15 years ago the Germans got control of this country, made it a colony,.-./ nd, as the story goes, oppressed them ;.but now comes their rescuers; the mighty power of liberty-loving England will do them justice, will henceforth protect them, will call upon libertyloving America to aid the cause. Yes, the people of

the Kameruns must be freed, and that by the nation, that demands that the Irish shall still remain in slavery.

Look next at the Armenians. The Turks subjected them to terrible persecution until not more than half of them are left. Hence, the Armenians must be freed. But Ireland at home has lost through English misrule more than half of her people. The remaining half, however, must still be - the victims of their tormentors. The wild men of Russia, flaunting the red flag, the sword and the bomb that represent the rule of Russia— Bolshevikiare invited with the others to the conference, and a place assigned where the peace delegates will meet them. Their hands are still red with blood. Yet England invites theii representatives to come to conference. The lawful representatives of Christian Ireland she imprisons. For the world without, England has her armies to defend their freedom, her diplomats to promote the peace pact; that is, to protect them. For Ireland, too, she has an —not to defend, but to destroy, and for the nation's leaders she has the gaols ready to receive them and quick-lime ready to dissolve the bodies of her martyrs. England's Reasons. Whence comes this inconsistency, or this hypocrisy, if you will ? Has England a single valid reason to present to the world of to-day that has to pass judgment on her actions ? I have read them all just as they are presented by her Parliaments, furnished by a press supplied by agencies that just now appear to serve not as purveyors of news, but as promoters of English interests. Here are some of her latest arguments why Ireland's rights should be denied : First, that Ireland, free, would be Ireland hostile, and her proximity to England would be a menace to the latter. "Ireland," says a recent author, flies across the very vitals of England." This argument, however, might be stated in another way—that if Ireland be close to England, England is equally close to Ireland, and the Irish nation should refuse a free Parliament to England because of the threat thereby created to the liberties of Ireland.

But such arguments, as between nations, are not arguments at all. France lies nearer to England. Therefore France’s liberties should be destroyed to protect the English coast. And so with Belgium and Holland and the rest. The utter insincerity of this argument is furthermore shown by the latest of England’s statements, namely, that her fleet will henceforth dominate all seas. If so, how can she fear an island that has no fleet, no navy, no standing army, and no guns ? What menace is there to the mistress of the seas by a nation that to-day cannot call a single battleship her own ?

“But,” said the English, “Ireland refused to fight for the freedom of others and therefore freedom must be denied her.”

An argument made much use of even with us. An argument, too, that is specious and hollow.

Irish Soldiers Led Way.

When England entered the war, the Irish soldiers numbered relatively to the population more than the English did. A higher percentage was maintained when the English armies went to France, and during the long sad years since then, Irish soldiers led the way to victory, or defended with their lives England’s retreating armies. To read the stories of Gallipoli, Vimy Ridge, of Ypres, is to see renewed again the death-defying bravery and courage of the Irish soldier. But bravery to-day, as battles are. fought, brine’s 9m JJ 7 O 7 O its terrible harvest of death. The brave men first to lead are also first to fall: and so death came, and destruction to the Irish regiment. Appeals were made to recruit their ranks, but they who would otherwise willingly go, had learned long since the fate of their brethren, and knew it were not a call for glory, but to destruction.

\ . Anyhow, why should they go to fight for liberty abroad, when freedom at home was denied them? Right gladly would the remnant of them volunteer, as they did volunteer, to fight with the French in the long ago, or with the Americans, as they have from the very beginning of our history. As a matter of fact, however you treat the ethics of conscription relatively more men of Irish blood or nationality fought against German oppression than there did of any other race, the French and Serbs alone excepted. Another formidable objection to Irish freedom is found in the statement so frequently made—that the Irish are not united—that they do not know what they want, and that their present disunion is a forerunner of what their position would be should they be restored to their birthright. But such an, argument stands as of little worth in these days of democracy and enlightenment. We know that in any representative Government, it is the majority that rules —that it is practically impossible to have absolute unity on any one question. The Irish with great deliberation have by a vast majority declared the right to govern themselves by uniting the instrumentalities of a British Government in their elections—a hundred members of Parliament have been returned, 80 of these are pledged to the cause of Ireland. As for the minority, they represent not the Irish, but the English colony in Ireland. They represent the group sent over by James 1., whose duty it was to grab the Irish lands, and to keep the Irish down. They still would like to play this dual role; so, they still want English protectors. They are the last survivors of German Junkerism, with which, indeed, they were affiliated before the war. Rut again, the Irish are said to be pro-German, which is hopelessly and absolutely false. About a year ago they caught a man that got out of a so-called collapsible boat, wandering around on the West Coast of Ireland. They questioned him, and his answers were not satisfactory. So they made of him a “cause celebre.” He was the forerunner of the German invasion. He was operating with the Irish leaders. So they hurried him to London, and seized every leader in Ireland that was giving them any trouble, claiming that they were all in a pro-German conspiracy. They are in gaol still, with no charge placed against them, and no trial given them, and no promise of their release.

The fact is that Ireland has little regard for Germany, as she has less for England. She well remembers that in addition to the other extortions practised on her during these hundreds of yearn, not the least, and certainly not the latest, were the moneys she was compelled to pay to Hanoverian kings who occupied the English throne, and to the mistresses of these German kings, whom the -English refused to support. While good Queen Victoria lived, German was the language of her household, as her husband, the Prince Regent, was unable, or unwilling, to speak English. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 the English were with practical unanimity sympathising with and supporting the German cause ; while the people of Ireland were equally unanimous in sustaining the cause of the French. So, if England be really opposed to Germany, to-day (and some doubt it, especially after she has attained her. commercial aims), it is she is the convert to the cause of France and America and civilisationa cause that was dear to Ireland from the beginning.

The truth is that no one argument that she would advance to-day against the claims of Ireland has any meaning or purpose, unless it be the purpose of thereby deceiving the other nations, but particularly to deceive the people of the United States. All the arguments are on the other side. History, economics, justice, restitution, if these stand, for aught, they stand on Ireland’s side—arguments, too, that make for the future, for instance, the proposed League of Nations. Such a league can be based only on the consent of nations that are themselves Tree, and propose freedom and jus-

tice for others. Why should England care, or why should we desire to join in-a League of Nations, which with Ireland's rights denied, would be not a league, but a conspiracy Justice done to Ireland would mean that our nation has not entered into the war in vain. Justice to' Ireland would mean that our returning soldiers could joyfully friends, knowing that they were victorious—had fulfilled their task, that their victory was complete, and that peace with justice had returned to the world. Denied and It Is England's Peril. Let-it be denied; and it will be only at England's peril; and not all her fleet, nor armed men can protect her from the results of her injustice. We, too, as a nation, and our President, must feel deceived and repulsed, and our cause rejected. Our brave soldiers who died, if they could speak back, would appeal to us not to break faith with them—"lf ye break faith with us, who die, We shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders' fields." But I must conclude: The world of to-day has advanced so far that English deception and misrepresentation must go the way of German cruelty. We are in the new erathe era of democracy, humanity, and publicity. State craft and Stater betrayals must end. The deliberations of the Peace Convention are public property. Many there are who fear that these newer principles may not prevail. Lately the news becomes more disturbing, the outlook more obscured. We hear all around the rumbling of unrest, of revolution and counter revolution. All the horizon becomes streaked with fire, until to some the fear has come that we are going to face a new Armageddon, out of which, as from a crucible of fire, may come a new order, and perhaps only interminable chaos and ruin. We had thought that all the misrule and all the burnings and crimes were on the other side of the trenches; but we find, now, that no trench line holds them back. Unrest is everywhere, and clamor arises where men do gather. At such a time it behoves all men of good will—all nations that desire justice, and the dispensation of justice— who want that right should prevail, to rally all their forces and stand together for our civilisation and its perpetuation. In that grand rally, Ireland demands a place. During these long centuries she has stood for law, and justice, and democracy. Thus she stands to-day, ever true to her faith, to country and to right. She would now become a potent factor in restoring to the world that order, justice, and peace, it so sadly needs,, and it so much desires. At the Council of Nations, where even the enemy nations, Germany, Austria, Turkey, will take part, Ireland's place is vacant—her voice unheard—her duly elected representatives in prison. '"lreland, a nation, demands that her representatives be freed—access to the council given them, and that she at last, but for evermore, shall take her rightful place among the nations of the earth. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED. Following are the resolutions proposed by Mr. John P. Leahy, and adopted at the mass meeting for the freedom of Ireland, held in the Coliseum, St. Louis, Sunday evening, February 7. Ireland is a nation, older than almost any other nation in the world to-day, designed by Providence to be such, and held in subjection by a foreign Power which has maintained and is maintaining its rule over her by military, force without the consent and against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of her people. Be it therefore, Resolved, That, inasmuch as our President, speaking to the Congress of the United States, and on behalf of the American people, has declared that our purpose in entering the war was to fight for the things which we have always carried, nearest our- hearts—for democracy, for the. right of those who submit to authority to have

a voice in their own -governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free people, as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free, and, inasmuch as this principle and purpose was accepted by our associates in the warEngland included— has now, therefore, become not only our clear and indisputable right, but our sacred and imperative duty to insist that this principle of self-determination shall be applied to all peoples and all nations, and that there shall be no exclusion of Ireland or of any other nation which is being governed by a foreign Power without the consent and against the wishes of the majority of its people, and that in the application of this principle, the voice of the majority of the people of the nation entitled to such right shall alone be recognised. Further, Resolved, That, inasmuch as the Irish people have by an overwhelming majority elected as their parliamentary representatives a body constituting more than three-fourths of the entire parliamentary representation of Ireland, and pledged to secure the national freedom of their country, the right of such body to voice the sentiments of the Irish people on all questions affecting their national destiny must be recognised, and to that end we respectfully demand of our representatives at the Peace Conference that they insist upon'the delegates elected by this body being admitted to the conference, permitted to participate therein in the same manner and "with equal powers and privileges as are enjoyed by the duly accredited representatives of other small nations, and that they shall be accorded the opportunity of presenting to the Peace Conference the claims of Ireland to self-determination, and that these claims shall be supported and insisted upon by our representatives thereat. And be it further Resolved, That a refusal upon the part of the representatives of Great Britain at the Peace Conference to agree to the application of the principle of selfdetermination to Ireland, and a failure upon the part of our representatives thereat to insist upon it, will stamp the proceedings of the Peace Conference with suspicion and mistrust, and render it impossible for the conference to make the world safe for democracy and to establish a just and permanent world's peace.