Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 10 July 1919, Page 14

Current Topics

The ‘.'Futility l of Politicians ' d on: - yldsdoiq Aci- Edward 1 Carpenter may be a dreamer, but even to - dreamers in that dark and mysterious, hour before awakening/- of which Dante sings, there come at times penetrating thoughts. . We find ‘ many such '/ in Carpenter’s dreams, but hardly any ‘one. more worthy /of, remembering just now than this:—"lf the present-day diplomatists - and Foreign / Ministers have / sincerely striven 5 for peace, then their utter / incapacity , and futility have been proved to the hilt, and they must be swept ’ away. If they have not sincerely striven . for peace, but only pretended to so' strive, then also they must be swept away, for deceit in such a matter is unpardonable. And no' doubt the latter alternative is the true one. There has been a pretence of the Governments ' all round— pretence of deep .concern for humanity and the welfare of mass-peoples committed to their charge; but the real moving power' beneath has been chws-interest—the interest of the great commercial class in each nation, with its acolyte and attendant, the military and aristocratic.” Sound sense, dearreaders ! 1 Away with them ! —the incompetents, the jobbers, the profiteers, the false friends, the deceivers of the people, who are now (from their own point of view) satisfied with what they tell us is peace. If any man doubts the truth of Carpenter’s words let him ask himself why did Lloyd George delight to honor a man who traded with the enemy in war-time; and why did King George delight to honor the Orange rebels who were truckling with the Kaiser; and why, instead of the fulfilment of previous pledges, we have now a peace framed by a gang of capitalists. If the people were left alone we should never have war. And when war comes the people pay and the plutocrats reap the harvest. Oh, for the dreams of a world-reconstruction ! Lloyd George as our Empire Premier is something very symbolic.

The Case Against the Hun The other day in an American paper we saw a list of crimes made out against the Hun. For these crimes, which were surely abominable, vengeance was demanded, and who shall say unreasonably? We all agree that the criminals ought to be punished severely. (1) Wanton destruction of propertysuch as was wrought by Maxwell in Dublin ; (2) Arrests of civilians—such as is common in Ireland under Lloyd George; (3) Murder of civilians—such as the murder of Sheehy-Skeffing-ton and of the innocent men in King Street (4) Firing on women and childrensuch as took place in Batchelor’s Walk; (5) Brutal treatment of political prisoners—such as took place in Belfast Gaol; (6) Breaking of solemn pledges such as Lloyd George’s to Redmond, to Plunkett, and to many others: —these were a few of the crimes which our American contemporary denounced so justly. We have all denounced them we have all called for vengeance on the Huns who perpetrated them in Belgium. Unless we are a nation of hypocrites we will denounce our own rulers,. Lloyd George, Carson, and the rest of them, and : call for justice on them. If you are a true Jingo you, will say, "But these things were only done to the Irish, whom it is our domestic concern to murder and illtreat.” You make a sad mistake: these things have been done to you; for it is home to your. door the retribution and the punishment will surely come. It is you who will suffer in the day when an outraged British people will arise and sweep away , the tricksters who have brought international disgrace upon them. The, Irish died in great numbers as a result of these crimes ; but how many Englishmen live in . a shame that is worse than death because of the doings of England’s Huns? We know that there are among us many who rejoice at the slow murder of the Irish Catholics who’ are ready,, to forge and to falsify and to lie in order to blacken Ireland, , They and .their, masters; will have ' their hour.!T//,' ,1.. 'Si A./A.-A

Conan Doyle’s Dotage —: — ~ ~ ...... We r all knew Conan Doyle as -the, successful author of,, a. long series, of glorified ; Penny Dreadfuls •. which" .we read with avidity „in our boyhood just as we read . about the doings of Deadwood Dick, Captain Kidd, Bluebeard; Henry . VIII., Queen Elizabeth, and Cromwell. Having made some money and got a title out of the business, Conan’s inventive - genius failed, and his vogue ended as pitifully as Kipling’s. Possibly too his-mind became weak, as is not unusual with the men whom. the . mob delights to honor. Anyhow, the one-time famous story-teller made up his mind in his old-age that he had, not only a title from the King, but also a title from heaven to lay down the law for ordinary mortals on all things under the sun and a few others. It is not so long ago since his idiotic views on the sacred subject of marriage were ridiculed by the thinking people—who, in a small minority, are still to be found in the British Empire. To some it was pitiable, to others more callous it was amusing, to hear the creator of Sherlock Holmes, speaking ex cathedra on theology, but barring himself nobody seemed to take Sir Arthur Conan Doyle more seriously than in the days when he wrote fairy tales about Sherlock -Holmes and Doctor Watson. . After a rest he has broken out again. In old age many men and women of , “strong minds” are punished by God by being permitted to make themselves ridiculous. People who climbed up a scaffold and looked down patronisingly on the men and women who believe in God and in the Bible often become the victims of the most advanced forms of superstition, and proceed with a garrulousness in keeping with their credulity to preach a Spiritism that is far from spiritual. The successful writer failed as an amateur theologian ; his failure as a prophet is equally lamentable. He has recently proclaimed his faith that as many women are remotely suitable to become mediums, Spiritist practices ought to be taken up commonly by the gentle sex. Just as theologians fell upon him when his views about marriage and divorce were circulated, so now medical men who devoted as much time and energy to their professional studies as he did to the manufacture of detective yarns take him to task firmly and tell him some plain truths about the evil effects of Spiritism on its victims. Women and girls in modern cities suffer quite enough from nerves and from neurotic influences already, and it is pointed out to Sir Arthur, that what we want is something to counteract rather than further increase the evil effects of present-day conditions on mind and morals. Sir Arthur’s proposal would have the effect of introducing tired girls, in need of healthy relaxation after their day’s work, to spiritist seances and gatherings of which the inevitable result would be mental and moral collapse. It is the opinion of investigators who are more qualified to pronounce on the subject than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that the exercise of nxediumship is almost always "attended .by physical exhaustion, very frequently by complete mental prostration, producing a kind of moral paralysis and inertia of the will,’” and that "sometimes there are cataleptic seizures, contortions of the muscles of the face which are terrible to witness, and which are all of them conditions awakening disgust in all healthy and normally constituted minds state of feeling surely removed from anything approaching moral - aspiration or elevation.” Further, experts tell us that "it is a fact universally" acknowledged and admitted by experienced spiritualists that the influence of the seanceroom is on the whole debasing, and that it tends to banish all true devotional feeling and true religion.” All things considered, it does seem that, if Sir Arthur had his way, we should have in a short time a race of mothers who would rear a generation silly enough and unmoral enough to' accept even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a prophet and a teacher. The Empire has gone a long way on the road to the Devil, but it is not yet as far as that.

America and Ireland /. i ; ; ■ ; J rO- ? "•Givis,” by interpolating into 1 a u passage ; from Leckyrth©r words of ' a historian whom Lecky condemns

as untrustworthy, put -himself on a par ".with. 5 the scoundrel Piggott who 'forged' letters' in' order fr to L calumniate Ireland. ; Nobody accuses : the Otago ) Daily Times of accessory to "Civis's" guilt, but many people do wonder why a daily that aims at respectability 1 still continues to allow the exposed falsifier "to vent his antiIrish and no-Popery spleen in its columns: Apparently the directors are not aware of the position' he places them in ; obviously they are blind to the fact that by tolerating such a man they are dragging down their paper to the level of rags like the Nation and the Menace, which will extend the hospitality of their columns to vile attacks on Ireland and the Catholic Church. When "Civis," and his one and only paper, the Spectator, had the audacity to tell their readers that the Americans had little or no sympathy for Irish freedom they were guilty of a falsehood so glaring that no man.who has any knowledge of current history could ever trust ? either of them again. "Civis" has little respect for Irish —whether for "old Moran" and "his pigs" or for Dr. Fogarty, who committed the unpardonable sin of expecting English statesmen to be serious' when they promised to fight for the right of self-determination for small nations. But whatever "Civis": thinks, there are many people who will be glad to hear what are the views of an English bishop on the intense interest taken by Americans just now in the cause of oppressed Ireland. Writing in the Dublin Review, the Bishop of Northampton says:

• " "It was our fixed intention, on leaving England,, to avoid all political topics and most of all the fatal topic of Irish-self-government. But we were soon made aware, and that in the highest quarters, that reticence on- this matter would be misconstrued. No appeal for co-operation between English-speaking Catholics would be listened to, we. were told, unless Catholic England was prepared to express her sympathy, plainly and unreservedly with Catholic Ireland."

The Bishop goes on to tell how he felt bound, when addressing at. Washington a distinguished audience, to make a declaration "which we thought represented faithfully the genuine sentiments of the vast majority of English Catholics, and which was accepted as satisfactory throughout America, except by the extreme partisans of the Clan-na-Gael." In this pronouncement he said : —■

'.'But this I can say, that the British public generally, and British Catholics in particular, are determined that the findings of the Irish Convention shall not remain a dead letter. . . . The Red Hand of Ulster cannot be allowed to wreck any more statutes. Ascendancy must end in Ireland as it musft end in Prussia and elsewhere." [ltalics ours.] The following paragraph, from the Glasgow Observer, may also help to convince "Civis" that his Spectator man is but a "puir fool after a' " : "A Daily News correspondent. (Mr. P. W. Wilson), writing from New York, emphasises the necessity of an Irish settlement if Anglo-American amity is to endure. 'The time has come for saying definitely that over Sir Edward Carson and Ulster, as over Lord Northcliffe, Britain must make a choice. She cannot have full English-speaking unity on Carson's terms. It is not only President Wilson who knows this. Roosevelt was equally assured of it, as are the Republicans, while Canada ■is undoubtedly affected.' If Lloyd George should surrender further or longer to Carson, then 'further defence of the British attitude towards Ireland declares Mr. Wilson —impossible on this side.'

Rather on account of its interest than with any hope of educating our Dunedin Piggott, we quote the following, from the New -Witness: - ;..-,:. .*.•

"IRELAND AND PRESIDENT WILSON

"Sir Francis Vane has asked us to publish the following letter;— ‘l2B West Fifty-ninth Street, New York City, Good Friday, 1919. Dear Sir Francis,— I have, sent your interesting letter to the Irish World, which is still the , historical Irish paper; I . think : both Soosgvelt and Wilson were the wiser for your • i •/. ■hv.-f rfsjt! jiclvri A . TJT-i Cif

spondence. There-is very little doubt on this side of the water now as to what happened in Ireland. Mr. Wilson is probably the best-informed man in the world on Irish affairs .by now, and three of the most able Irish-Americans [.., have. gone to J Paris to refresh his memory. The Irish have looked to' Mr. Wilson, and I do" not think it will be in vain. At least we have not the right to say 'in vain ', until .his tenure of the Presidency '- is closed ; J For two" years longer he . holds v the whip-hand of ; the world. " He has as yet done I nothing against the Irish Cause, and showed himself marvellously sympathetic to. the Irish Committee in New York. He made the .unfortunate mistake, which can - perhaps be attributed to having had to listen to Mr. Taft for an : hour's speech," of refusing to meet ,Judge Cohaian, the Irish leader in America. As this incident has been well 1 bruited 'in the English press it is only fair to add that the only other Irishman he declined to meet was Sir Edward Carson. It is fatuous to insist that he, is Ireland's enemy. Apart from his determined desire .to apply his "theories to the whole world without exception, you have the remarkable prospect of an approaching Presidential election, in which Ireland may be the turning pivot. Before that momentous election comes, both England and America may see reason to insist on the Irish settlement. As to what that settlement.may be, you : are right in your criticism of any . centre .or middle party. On this .side it 'is as well to face the cubical unquestioned quintessential facts. The > time for all middle men has passed. The Irish in America will back only the Sinn Fein. Whatever concordat is made between Sinn Fein in Ireland and England will be honorably and everlastingly upheld in America. Make it clear that no other settlement than ane with Valera and Mac Neill is possible. Whatsoever they bifid in Dublin will be bound in New York; whatsoever they loose in Ireland will be loosed, in .America. For the, Irish almost alone of -peoples keep their word and abide their treaties. [ltalics ours.] —Yours sincerely, Shane Leslie.' "

The following extract from the Dunedin Evening Star, July 4, is a complete answer in itself to "Civis" and the Spectator; —"The New York Times Boston correspondent states that de Valera was given an enthusiastic reception by the Lower House of the Massachusetts State Legislature. He addressed a gathering on the aims of the Irish Republic. De Valera was enthusiastically received by at least 40,000 people at Fenway Park. De Valera read an address, in which he appealed to the United States to frame a new Covenant for the League of Nations, wherein Ireland will have a place among the free nations of the world. The Mayor of Boston welcomed de Valera.";"' 1 America does apparently take interest in Ireland. In the light of the foregoing extracts it is clear how little the opinions of either "Civis" or his Spectator are worth, and it is evident that whatever else one may : seek in "Civis" the truth is not to be found in him. We now give a report of a speech made recently at Wexford by Darrel Figgis, a Protestant Irishman, and we leave it to our readers to judge if it is likely that in the near future the interest of r America in Irish

freedom--will be less than in the past. Couple with what Mr. Figgis says the remark of Shane Leslie that President Wilson does sympathise with Ireland and that he will for two years more hold the whip-hand over the world i—-- '••"■•' L '"■"■'

“ Mr. Darrel Figgis, lecturing in Wexford on Easter Sunday, said that if the nations neglected the acid test of Irish independence it might happen to eat its way through the whole fabric of imagined peace. The peace of the world could not be maintained otherwise than by a pact between England and America, ; and they in Ireland intended to see that there would be* no peace between England ’ and America until those nations recognised that Ireland was the acid test 'of their sincerity ; 1: He believed that if President Wilson had it in his power to-morrow to achieve Irish independence he would dp it, 5 but when he left Washington for Paris he was surrounded by a lot of old accomplished diplomats, "who wove a net of words around #A'iTb P- ffl' O

him, and while in Paris he was in that net. His position of strength was in 'America, and they intended to strike their blows 'for Irish independence where.- he was strong." *'*'«.- Irishmen have not lost faith in President Wilson. That some have we do not deny, but those who are best able to judge still defend him and plead for him, asking us to remember that he was playing a lone hand in Paris, where everybody else was fighting for plunder. De Valera has already pleaded for trust in the President, and here is what another Sinn Fein leader has to say of him: —"Mr Arthur Griffith, at Strabane, oh Easter Monday, said if President Wilson's declaration at the tomb of Washington of the principle on which America entered the war was acted on everywhere, then the peace of the world was secure, but if the principles were violated by the annexation of territory and the grabbing of trade, the result would not be peace, but continual war. He believed President Wilson was sincere when he laid down that principle, and that he made, and was making, a fight to uphold it. However, he found himself in difficulties that he would not have experienced had he sat in Washington and dictated peace. The English newspaper reports that President Wilson was backing England or anybody he did not believe. America was the one nation that had fulfilled to the letter the principle laid down by the President for the freedom of oppressed peoples. In December the Irish people declared for absolute independence, and a Republican form of government. If President Wilson found it impossible in the circumstances to carry out the undertakings he gave, they in Ireland would, if needs be, appeal to America to stand by the words of the President." "