ITALY AND IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 5 June 1919, Page 33

ITALY AND IRELAND

i Hitherto a profound silence has reigned in the European press on the subject of Ireland’s national aspirations -and' intentions ' (says Nationality of recent date). ; The censorship, the refusal of passports, and the poison of anti-Irish propaganda have blinded Europe to the facts of the Irish : situation. . England has everywhere been represented as the apostle and defender of liberty. Ireland, if remembered at all, was not supposed to be a distinct nation, but a sort of discontented Yorkshire,, inhabited chiefly -by law-breakers and criminals. j But the silence is being broken at last. The truth at last is beginning, to leak through. A week or two ago long and carefully considered articles were published in Italy, full of facts, quotations, and arguments, in which the Irish cause was set forth in great detail, and was boldly advocated. ’ The F opolo d’ltalia, one of the most widely read papers in ; .Italy, printed two articles, each a column and a-half long,' with double headlines extending across two columns. In the. first of these (“Towards an Irish Republic”) the overwhelming triumph of the Republican Party at the General Election is made clear. Dr." McCartan’s communication to the United States is given in full. No one (savs the writer) understands anything about Sinn Fein because the leaders are kept shut up without trial in English gaols, while the Irish people are held down bv martial law as in a straight jacket, and are prevented from communicating with the; outer ; . world by a censorship of the , severest kind. Arthur ’Griffith is quoted on the ‘'wall of paper,” and the writer asks whether the Sword of Justice, which has hewn down so many barriers of granite, is to be

baffled by this trumpery and immoral obstruction. The antiquity of Ireland’s nationality and culture is emphasised, her age-long struggle for freedom is described, and the pamphlet on the ethics, of Sinn Fein is cited to show the lofty character of the national ideal. On the other hand, the Times is quoted to show that the English are still relying on the system of forcible repression they practised generations ago, and particulars are given of the army of occupation in Ireland, its .numbers and equipment. The meaning of the tricolor is explained, as well as Ireland’s resolve to hold out against English tyranny to the last : and finally, the article, in which argument is piled upon argument and quotation upon quotation, affirms the right of Ireland to present her case to the Peace Conference.

The second article (“Can Ireland Stand Alone?”) deals at length with the allegation made by the Morning Post , and by ignorant politicians of the type of Walter Long, that English tyranny is the only alternative to Irish bankruptcy. The area and population of Ireland are compared with those of other small European nations, and figures axe given to show how Irish revenue is drained away remorselessly into the English Treasury, and the implacable thoroughness with which Irish development has been suppressed is indicated. The Irish Nation (says the writer), whom the English revile as bankrupts and beggars, but whom in truth they have bled white, “pays England every year an enormous sum for the privilege of having maintained over them an alien tyranny which they abhor.” The nationhood of Ireland is again insisted on and England is warned that “not with fetters and the prison will, you ever extinguish the eternal flame of patriotism in the heart of a proud and ancient nation.” Another Italian newspaper, - IT tali a, in its. “Notes on International Politics,” devotes the greater part of a column to a discussion of the Irish situation.: It says , that oh the Continent you may meet with people of . every nationality-even from China, Japan, Siam, or Lithuania “but a Sinn Feixxer you will never see, for the very simple reason that he requires a passport in order to cross the Channel, and England will never allow him to have a passpox't.” The threat of the Times that the Irish'-Republican movement will be crushed as effectively as the"movements of ’29, ’4B, and ”.67- is again reproduced:,-with scorn,- and a sharp contrast is drawn between England’s professions - as “the

liberator of 1 oppressed nationalities’’ . and her secret oppression of, Ireland. The paper says that the result of the General Election and the proclamation of the Republic, are Tacts “too eloquent to admit of , reply,” and. urges . that the same i principles of justice should be applied to Ireland as to other oppressed nationalitiesC,; ‘ AOA-kAAI England is not likely- to welcome the frank discussion thus initiated in Europe on her secret treatment of the Irish Nation. As the Statist lately pointed out, she is now the only Great Power left who, contrary to the opinion of the whole civilised world, is holding down millions of unwilling subjects by the sheer power of the sword. But the damning revelation, so long delayed, could not be postponed for ever. It is coming at last. “Just a little exposure,” said President Wilson at the Sorbonne University, “will settle most questions.” May the God of Nations grant that it may be so in the case of Ireland.