THE CASE OF IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 12 June 1919, Page 9

THE CASE OF IRELAND

>-• 1 r •• ' 7 » 4 vTf.-jt ‘ s •'* * . . • * ; V- > [Hero is the statement of the - case of Ireland as written for the information of the American people by Edward De Valera, head of the Sinn Fein, who has been /.called? “President of ; Ireland.” De Valera re- , cently escaped from Lincoln Gaol, England, and is a fugitive. After writing this document in his hiding- / place near Dublin, he handed it to a Sinn Fein member of Parliament, who conveyed it to Ralph F. Couch, . the United Press correspondent, who found and interviewed De Valera. The correspondent brought it to New York in person, so there was no censorship.] Somewhere in Ireland, February ~ 25. England has no right in Ireland. England’s de facto Government here rests solely on the number of her bayonets. , We challenge England to allow Ireland the prin- , ciple of free self-determination. Let that principle be applied to this island as a unit, and if a decisive majority of the whole people declare not for separate, independent Statehood, then we shall be’ silent. If England accepts the principle of self-determina-tion for this island it will settle the Irish question for ‘GVGi . _ ?. U ' jyrJgfr;; If a decisive majority should declare for independence, would not Ireland be justified in claiming that? That and not something less represents the free . choice of the people. The recent elections prove it. - _ On what grounds does England refuse. Ireland’s demand ? England cannot pretend to misunderstand that the challenge we give her is the challenge of the Irish people. Let us hear why she refuses to meet it. We can ourselves settle our minority question (Ulster), because we shall want to. England never will settle that minority question, because she desires to keep it unsettled. Let her remove her interfering hand. . Irish Spirit Will Remain Indomitable. We ask the world to listen and to judge between Ireland and England, but if the principle with which the world has rung for the last four years shall prove to be a mockery, if Ireland’s claim still is flouted, then she must find refuge once more in her own indomitable spirit—the spirit which has maintained her in the past. She can still at least endure, and depend upon it, there is a generation now grown up in Ireland that will see to it that if England wants to still rule her she must do so with a never-sheathed sword. Do I believe the statesmen at Paris will force England to do justice to Ireland Many people are asking that question. They are convinced, I suppose, that of herself England will not do justice to Ireland. % They doubt, perhaps, that the delegates from the other nations will be either so disinterested or such determined champions of right as to risk a quarrel with England on behalf of a country which possesses less , of the world’s goods than England when nothing but the principles of justice are at stake. These doubters may be right; they may be wrong. I do not pretend to know. I do know that if this issue should unhappily be as the doubters are obviously satisfied it will be, then the cynic can feel that once more he has been justified and the simple and trusting obviously imposed upon. Then, indeed, there will have been deception. "Honest people everywhere will point the finger of scorn and; indignation at these statements. They will have a right to ask: “Where now is that impartial/; justice that knows no favorites which recently you spoke so- much about? Where now is this new order and these handsome foundations of lasting peace Were all those beautiful professions of yours that, simple and grand, seemed tuned to the eternal verities of our souls, awakening in them a sympathetic response that we could not smother—were these beautiful pro- , ; fessions but skilfully spun phrases finely woven to enmesh us ? A Basis “Worthy of Common Humanity.” “Are you after all only as were the restwas this war only r as were v other wars—was it for your "puny-

—r : .; ■ - . • . '■ir' , ■ . ... . ambitions that - humanity has ; endured, : the horrors of the past five years and the entail 1 ' of sorrows they have bequeathed to ' the future ? - - • | I do not know whether the statesmen at Paris will be unworthy of the trust or whether they; will be great enough to gr-asp the opportunity that,. requires so little to improve and found firmly now those relations between peoples on a basis worthy of our common V k* 4 i «r : • * • :s . • -■] ■ • r -' e ;■ - Ii 1 V l- r ';;‘ • humanity. ; e ■ ■) But it is surely a source of hope to know that at Paris there is one man at least who apparently realises his duty and who can accomplish what he wills if only , he remain steadfastly determined and true. ; The Machiayellis may scoff -at him, but ..he ought to know that he has the best of mankind everywhere at his. back. Let him but be bold enough to lead straight on and that respectable portion of mankind, the plain , people, ;whose spokesman he has been and - whose hearts he lias won, will be ready to march .with him, to the realisation of their common dream.

Why should he hesitate to see that - America’s aims be accomplished ? Were those aims not stated unequivocally from the start? Is the cause less worthy now that its triumph is in" sight Are those who oppose it now less the enemies of that cause than those who were thought lately to oppose it? p-f Why " should any of the statesmen in Paris even seek to oppose President Wilson in having the cause' of justice upheld ? Have their statements not been almost as explicit as his ? Have they not vied with one another in proclaiming that the rights of the weak are no less worthy than- the rights of the strong? How can any of them claim the privilege of condoning wrong? Should they attempt to do so, President Wilson should boldly save; them from themselves. Wrong is no less wrong because it happens to be one of their own number that is guilty of it. ■ Asks Nothing of England but to Keep Out. If President Wilson should by any chance prove too weak for his trust, he will have all the less excuse, because luckily America is strong enough not to allow herself to be cheated. She, at any rate, has no need to tremble when the British lion growls his intimidating warnings to those who might disturb him at his prey. I cannot believe that the President will be weak or will allow himself to be deterred from cutting away a vicious canker at the core of the new world order by the conventional diplomatic niceties that belonged to the order which the blood of millions was shed to destroy. But whether Ireland be heard or not —whether the - statesmen at Paris come forth as the most conspicuous failures in history or not —the duty of Irishmen and the duty of all lovers of liberty is clear. That duty is to see that oversight cannot be pleaded as an excuse. England tries to bind and gag Ireland, to throw her into obscurity as of a dungeon. It is our duty to support all who would lend a hand at losing her. We must strive at least to let in the purifying light; to show Ireland as she is, struggling ever against the slavery in which England would confine her,; fighting; through centuries, maintaining in blood and tears communion with all who fight for liberty everywherebattling for it as she ever is with the foe upon her own hearth at home. £ Ireland seeks nothing from England but the removal of England’s interfering hand. Her only demand ■ is the fundamental right to live her own life in her own way with no limitations except those imposed by the necessity of respecting the equal rights of other peoples. ■ •