The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 1919. THE RENASCENCE OF IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 12 June 1919, Page 25

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 1919. THE RENASCENCE OF IRELAND

ARDINAL NEWMAN, in a magnificent ■ piece of satire, showed . how the popular notions about the Catholic Church were §ARDINAL from descriptions magnificent piece of satire, showed how the popular notions about the Catholic Church were all derived from descriptions of her by people whose interest it was to misrepresent 1 her and to discredit her greatness. A ; cenr tury-old Protestant tradition, . backed . by a , powerful Protestant press and by organJ ised bigotry so widespread that even Dickens was caught in its ,• meshes, appropriated to the Reformation whatever of great and good and beautiful

there was iii the Church, and then ‘ proceeded to ! tell the public that Catholicism—or, as - the illustrious ' Professor Dickie, who is infallible in Dunedin about the Twelfth of r July," would = say,*- Romanism— nothing to commend it, and stood for obscurantism and for ignorance. The tactics of- Protestants in : this ' regard were decidedly Protestant: no other word can •be found to fit them. And what they have done with reference to the Church they have also done in a political sphere with reference to Ireland. Some day it may be worth while collecting a number of the contradictory things they have said'' about Irishmen, who, according to the mood of the anti-Irish writer, are “ferocious, ” or “cowardly,” or “humble,” or “proud,” or “lazy,” or “vain,” or goodness only knows what not. For too long Irishmen were content to accept in a certain measure as true what their enemies said about them, just as they were satisfied to regard English papers and English books as worth reading. The false tradition deceived the people,, and it needed a miracle to arouse them from their dreams.

They have been aroused. .They have been taught to look into themselves and to examine in how far the traditions apply to them. For the past 20 years writers like D. P. Morgan have been scouring the Anglo-Saxon ideals out of them and teaching them to see West Britonism for the shoddy, contemptible thing it is in truth. The Gaelic League has come along and led them to turn back and regard everything from, the standpoint of Celtic, and no longer from that of British, culture. It has dawned on them at last that they have a heritage and a record which puts them immeasurably above the conglomeration of races called Englishmen, and that spiritually, intellectually, and physically they are the superiors and the English the inferior's. And from this turning-point, when Irishmen began to see things for themselves and to take a right pride in themselves, dates the renascence of the Irish nation. Twenty years is a short period in the life of a people, but what has been achieved in that span in Ireland is absolutely marvellous. One sign of it is the positive wonderment and astonishment of old people in this Dominion who were saturated with the old ideals and found it hard to realise the change and all it stands for. The vague notions- about the Gaelic League, the dense ignorance about the activities of Sinn Fein with which we personally had to contend when we came to edit the Tablet over two years ago now, prove clearly how far Ireland has leaped forward ahead of old conditions. And as yet, far as she has gone, she is only, on the threshold of her future greatness. So far she has in fact butgone back: back to the ancient ideals which were thrust aside by centuries of false English civilisation, which were vital enough to remake Ireland, which are the foundations of Ireland’s prosperity and development in the years to come. Sinn Fein, has now taken the lead, and more than fulfilled the highest expectations of its pioneers. Its maxim is The- Irish for.lreland; its first commandment is Thou shall he Irish, not English. The Rising of Easter Week, the incredible cruelty of Maxwell, the official protection ;of the murderer Colthurst, and the immoral attempt to impose the horrors of military slavery on a nation that never did and never will acknowledge English rule, strengthened Sinn Fein and made it the irresistible force it is to-day in Irish life. Under Sinn Fein the country is united as it never was at any time ; in its history. Owing to the dishonest chicanery of - Lloyd George, the one danger that Irishmen might be caught in the .trap of British promises is for ever removed. On the. broad lines marked out by the Gaelic League, Ireland has .begun her march towards freedom and prosperity. , ,

Two movements will help to show what premise the future - holds. ■ The co-operative movement that -began c- so quietly, now widespread embracing >' in its activities “ nearly every phase of A national " life ‘ from herring-fishing off Kileel to painting from life ! in Dublin.” V with branches from ' Carnsore• Point, to Lough.

Swilly, ( has. come to stay. -.lt, aims* at < the economic rebirth of Ireland, it : transfers , the idea of Sinn -Fein: from politics to political economy.;; i-It;applies the commandment Thou shalt not be, English to t every, 'depart--ment of, : trade . and . industry, , and teaches/Irishmen j to wear • Irish-made tweeds, to , burn Irish coal, to t light Irish matches, and to read books printed in Ireland l on Irish paper. In literature Irish writers have -discarded the hybrid Anglo-Saxon ideals? and gone back to Celtic culture and to Celtic standards; All the old unreality,,. all the sunburstry, all the empty . : sweetness and sentimentality have v been; ruthlessly ; swept ■ aside, and literature made to look straight at life as it : is, and to become a real thing instead of a sham. The new Irish drama is intensely national-more national than anything of. the sort in the world today! The new poetry is as Irish in its sincerity and directness as the hearts of the men who make it. t The tide of life is flowing high the literature to-day isT'the* voice of a strong, healthy, regenerated people, conscious of power and proud of All this has been achieved under the misrule of a foreign power which has not ■a shadow of right to govern Ireland. But one thing is wanting now for the full flowering of the promise that has burgeoned so richly. When -oppression; and tyranny are gone, as they are going fast, the future will see a free Ireland developing to its full stature and taking a place in the sun beside the first nations of the world. We conclude with a quotation which imm t, Krasinaki puts on the lips of his own oppressed country in circumstances not unlike Ireland’s: “Not for hope-as a flower it is strewn ; not for the destruction of our —their destruction dawns on to-morrow’s clouds; not for the weapons of —from the tempests they will fall to us; not for any help Thou hast opened already the field of events before us;. but amidst the terrible convulsions of these events we beseech Thee only for a pure will within ourselves, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” ‘ , b