The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1919. FOREIGN SYMPATHY FOR IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 15 May 1919, Page 25

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1919. FOREIGN SYMPATHY FOR IRELAND

~ E have already dwelt on the growth of an imperative demand in America for the uWnC. freedom, of Ireland, and we have seen 4o£=> N!i/a]{, that there is a grim determination on ie P ai 'f' °f the American people, expressed by the authoritative voices of 4I State legislatures and by the suffrage of the House of Representatives, that the compact under which millions of Americans, largely Irish, went to war shall be kept by the champions of small nations. We have told our readers how in the past every effort made by'Britain to enter into friendly relations with America was at once frustrated by the sons of the exiles whom ‘British tyranny drove from their motherland, and explained why it is for England’s own interest, more than even for Ireland’s, to snatch this last chance of saving honor, reputation, and national welfare from the disaster which a new attempt to erect Prussianism in Europe and to reserve to herself the privilege of pledge-break-ing and dishonesty will surely entail. We are pleased to see that the efforts of the Sinn Fein leaders have now been rewarded by the world-wide interest that is taken to-day in the Irish problem, and we propose to inform our readers how the foreign press has taken up the matter and backed America in the right and just demand for Irish liberty. * Since the beginning of this ! year articles r . have begun- 1 to appear in the leading French, Italian, Spanish, • Russian, and - German papers, in all of ' which the

hypocrisy and the deceit of the English Ministers are set before the public, 1 with the result that a strong feeling has now been excited all over the civilised world in favor of Ireland, which all can see is suffering from Hunnishness at the end of the so-called war for the rights of ’ small/ nations. For instance, America tells us that La. Bataille, the official organ of the French trade-union movement, has called upon all French lovers of liberty to uphold Ireland’s claims, and La Fopidaire, a Majority Socialist paper, says: “Since August, 1914, the Governments of the Allies have repeated over and over again, almost to the sickening point; that this war was being fought for right and liberty, for the deliverance of oppressed nationalities, and the restoration of their sovereign independence. Socialists understood quite well that the rights of people to dispose of themselves meant nothing more than a war phrase used by the chiefs of two coalitions so as to weaken their opponents. Ireland, which was promised, the realisation of her dreams under Gladstone, has now less liberty than ever.” ...» .. . From America, we also take the following significant extract from an article by the Paris correspondent of the Manchester Guardian: “English people at home scarcely realise how strong the feeling is here in regard to England and her treatment of Ireland. French papers say little but French people think a great deal. A friend of mine who has lived in Paris for'twenty years and mixes freely among the people of all opinions, tells me that on this point he finds no difference between the extreme Nationalists and the extreme Socialists. Mr. Lloyd George seems to think he has disposed of the question when he points out that Ireland [largely as a result of British Hunnishness] sent fewer soldiers to the war than England or Scotland. The argument is not very impressive to the Italians when they find England-pressing for complete independence for populations that actually fought in the Austrian army. The only course consistent;.,with England's dignity (sic !!) is to support the application of the Sinn Feiners for a hearing before the Peace Conference.” Spaniards and South Americans are also strongin support of Ireland. In the press and in the forum, Ireland’s claims to freedom are advocated and the insincerity and tyranny of England exposed. Not content with resolutions passed by State Parliaments and by the Congress, the Americans of the United States have sent delegates home to demand the recognition not only of Ireland’s claims, hut of an Irish public, from the Peace Conference. Mr, Frank Walsh, formerly chairman of the Federal Commission of Industrial Delations ; Mr. Edward Dunne, who was a Judge of the Circuit Court of Chicago, Mayor of Chicago, and Governor of Illinois p and Mr. Michael Kyan, formerly City Solicitor of Philadelphia, have been selected for the delegation which has now arrived in Europe, and for an interview with which Mr, George has somewhat vainly been angling. Mr. Walsh thus announces the purpose of the mission “The committee is going. to France as American citizens holding no allegiance material or spiritual, to any other nation on earth, but imbued with the necessity of extending the principles of free government to Ireland, which is the typical small nation of the world, being deprived of ‘ the. right to determine for herself the form of government under which it shall exist. Naturally men and women of Irish blood and ancestry - everywhere have a deep sentimental attachment to the land, which gave birth to their race, and at this crucial moment pf new world poncepts desire to render all the assistance in their power to the representatives of the people of Ireland delegated to attend the Peace (Conference. The committee expects to remain in France until Ireland's case is fully determined by the Peace Conference.” ... IA ,l n Canada too the movement is growing apace, while in, Scotland Mrs. Sheeby-Skeffington is telling +,Vio, Soots how her husband was murdered by a protected lunatic during the wap. for freedom and selfdetermination. , ‘ .

The -cables of recent date reflect the influence of all this united expression of Ireland's right ,to selfdetermination: Mr. George has been very anxious to meet the American delegates. , He has, we are told, exerted himself to obtain passports for. the Irish delegates. It seems to have at last come into, the sphere of certainty that Ireland's" case will be heard at the Conference, and that the whole world will know how in deference to an unprincipled gang of bigots a small nation has been oppressed and plundered while her tyrants were proclaiming to humanity that they .were fighting for the restoration of right and. justice among all peoples. It is hardly necessary to point out that the Peace Conference has not yet begun. So far the Allies have been engaged chiefly in making up their minds what terms they shall set before the enemy. They have not been particularly blessed even in doing that much. When the representatives of all the,belligerents come together things will be different, and .it will begin to dawn on the English Democracy that other nations than Germany need renovation and moral regeneration. Whatever else be the results two things seem clear: Ireland will win and the Democracy of England will have their eyes opened to the crimes and blunders of their plutocrats and profiteers;