ERIN'S CLAIMS VOICED AT TOWER HILL, LONDON

New Zealand Tablet, 28 July 1921, Page 11

ERIN'S CLAIMS VOICED AT TOWER HILL, LONDON

There are people who still try to persuade their conscience that all the trouble in Ireland is due'to the activities of a small, hut" violent, "gang of criminals," who for obscure revolutionary reasons wish to see their land turned into a wilderness and a desolation (writes Rev. Claud M. Coltman in the London Daily News).

Those who cherish this fancy should pay a visit any Sunday afternoon to Tower Hill. There they would find convincing evidence that it is the very soul of a nation, passionate and unconquerable, exalted and heroic, against which their tanks and bombs and guns are being in vain directed.

Tower Hill, so silent and deserted on Sundays, is given over to them without opposition. The police are there, but they have an afternoon's holiday. There is order without orders amongst this great crowd, and when the demonstration is over the Hill is cleared within ten minutes.

In imagination one sees these demonstrations repeated in Canada, South Africa, Australia, and America, wherever Ireland's exiles have scattered and taken root. One wonders whether reason, justice, and light will prevail before the gathering storm bursts on the Empire.

Sunday after Sunday for many months past Tower Hill has been the rallying centre for crowds of London Irish. They come streaming up from all parts of the East End, with their bands of drums, fifes, and pipes to lead them. Standing on the historic hill, one hears the distant music of stirring Irish tunes as contingents arrive from Poplar, from as far cast as Custom House and across the river from Deptford.

They march on to the Hill to voice their woes, their hopes, and their defiance. Seeing and hearing it all, one recognises that here is something spiritual and invincible. The soul of a nation is being troubled, and every Irishman, though he may never even have seen Ireland, is troubled with it.