IMPRESSIVE WARNING.

New Zealand Tablet, 26 June 1919, Page 39

IMPRESSIVE WARNING.

.... r Mr.. T. P. O'Conner, speaking;in the Irish debate in the House of Commonsi> recently, [ said successive acts of folly by the British - Government had produced in America a feeling deeper..and more widespread > than bad" prevailed""aC'jany period of the history of ; the" two countries since the Civil War of 1865 (says the London Catholic,Times). What took. place the other day continued Mr. O'Connor. t There was a Convention of the Irish race .in Philadelphia attended 'by old campaigners in* tho Irish'" movement, many of them known to me, and amongst those who attended was Cardinal Gibbons. I know no man in the United States who is more cautious,- more restrained 'in language, '■ and whose words. carry more weight |than Cardinal .Gibbons!" He is a . man of great caution, of a fine 'mind. His words, are listened to with equal respect on all sides. For, I believe the first time in his life, Cardinal Gibbons appeared on an Irish | platform./-and expressed his adherence to the policy 'of /giving Ireland self-government. There was a debate in the/'House' of, .Representatives, .. and the vote was 216 to 41 in favor, of Home Rule, and* oh the very day when debate took place there appeared simultaneously with the account of the debate a w letter 7 from the. Prime Minister. It really was not meant to be comic, but it > was comic. At the moment, "so far as " one could see, he .was refusing Home Rule to ; Ireland, and at the moment the House of Representatives /ivas ; declaring by an .overwhelming majority in favor of Home Rule for Ireland. - I could quote from Mr. Beck, the most Anglophile perhaps 'of American citizens, a statement warning this country against anything that would excite the/people of America and the people of England. I could quote a speech from ? the Secretary of War, recently delivered, ; in .which, discussing the same question of the good relations between. England land* America, he declared . that any antagonism or estrangement between these two nations would be_ the .end of all tilings. "The guarantors of the League of Nations must be the British Empire and the United States, and without their guarantee the League of Nations is a vision and a trap." - You cannot have a League of Nations without close, intimate, friendly understanding and relations between the .peoples of England and the peoples of the United States. You can not ' have these relations unless you reconcile the Irish-race. (Hear; hear.) You cannot reconcile ; the i lrish t race iii America without reconciling the Irish people. (Hear, hear. : )r In refusing to reconcile Ireland you are estranging Americans. I leave to this'House the choice* between the two 1 policies. ; ; One, in my opinion, leads tos.ruin%s and disaster for Ireland;;/ for England, for the world. The other is the only one that will give some chance of the hopes we all have of seeing J.a better and brighter .fiiture. (Cheers.) ~ ;* v ' ;1 ■'■ '