Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLVIII, Issue 35, 1 September 1921, Page 14

Current Topics

Archbishop Redwood on Ireland

Speaking in Sydney the other day at the reception of Dr. Mannix, our venerable Metropolitan once more raised his fearless and eloquent voice in testimony of

which Mr. Lloyd George is an expert. He won his election on the hang-the-Kaiser-and-make-Germany-pay-for-the-war policy. When he was safely in he produced his two facts which made that policy impossible, the fact that international law must be respected in time of peace and that under international law even a small country like Holland is not bound to give up a deposed monarch to his enemies, and the fact that Germany cannot possibly pay for the war. The whole of Mr. Lloyd George’s cleverness is like the cleverness of a street - corner con hirer with a hat.

the justice of the cause for which de Valera stands to-day : , liis Grace said that he was happy to be present and assist at all these functions in honor of the prelate he esteemed so much. For weeks together he had been Dr. Mannix’s guest in Melbourne. It was under his roof that he (the speaker) prepared a speech that he delivered at the great convention in Melbourne. “In my youth,” continued the.speaker, “I had no correct idea about the Irish question. I was brought up as an Englishman, and there is not a drop of Irish blood in me. I remained in Ireland for ten years. I learned the history of Ireland, became acquainted with the people of Ireland, and from my heart I have always loved them, and shall do so until I go to my grave. (Applause.) The cause is just, and therefore, I have always advocated it before every kind of audience in days when it was not popular to do so. I always declared my feelings that justice should be done, because I was a true Englishman. (Applause.) I wanted justice. It is justice that makes nations great, and injustice and sin that make nations miserable. “I feel ashamed of the conduct of England towards Ireland for centuries, and therefore I came all the way from New Zealand to be present at the reception to the Archbishop of Melbourne to-day. But lam glad I did so. and I am sure the Catholics and Irishmen and friends of Ireland in New Zealand will envy my happiness on this occasion.” (Applause.)

Palestine The English people being at present governed by Jews, whose visible head is one David Lloyd George, trouble for Christians was to be expected in Palestine. As' we have said in a previous issue this trouble was referred to by the Pope in his Allocution at the recent Consistory. A writer in the French Journal des Debats considers the Pope's remarks most opportune in view of the number of complaints received concerning the unfair conditions to which Catholics have to submit under British (or rather Jewish) rule in the Holy Land. Passports are refused to Catholics unless of English birth, and many hindrances are put in the way of devout pilgrims to the Sacred Places. Thus does Lloyd George who was challenged publicly to tell how much he got for making a Cabinet Minister of the Jew, Mond, play into the hands of the international exploiters of the people, even in the Holy City. Surely it would be becoming for the John Bull Cardinals, Bourne and Gasquet, to attend to this matter rather than spend their time in trying to mislead the Vatican about Ireland. Partition The real crux of the Irish Question is the partition bv which Ireland was artificially divided by British politicians in obedience to the wishes of persons whose interest it is to see that no justice is done to the Irish \ people. Lloyd, George knew right well that de Valera could not dream of accepting anv offer which did not include united Ireland. He knew how British soldiers stood by during the past twelve months while brutal . murders were committed by the Orangemen. He also knew that, while there is no persecution in the South where Catholics are in a vast majority, the bigotry of the Orange Lodges is so intense that no Catholic—man, < woman, or child—is safe at any time, and that consequently no Irishman could entertain the idea of leaving at the mercy of assassins thousands of defenceless people. The following comment from Old Ireland presents the orthodox Irish view on the subject: v i 'i;-<:;. 'Partition is the sort of fact at the manufacture of

He produces and, he eliminates facts as a conjurer does eggs and rabbits. First he decides on a policy, and then he discovers that in order to carry it through a certain “Fact” is required. He turns to his factory and gets that fact manufactured. Then he points triumphantly to it. And that is the sort of fact Partition is. Everybody in Ireland knows that this particular fact is only a British Government device. It wou|d automatically disappear if England declared officially that she proposed to make no further interference in the affairs of Ireland. It owes its existence solely to her interference.

It may be taken for certain, anyway, that the Irish people will consider no proposals made to them which are biased on the Partition Act. Ulster is ontitled to a local Parliament within a Federated Irish State, but that is the utmost she is entitled to, and she is entitled to that not by virtue of any of the things she prides herself on, but by virtue of something that she is ignorant of, by virtue of the fact that the constitution of Ireland when Ireland was an independent nation was a federal constitution. We can promise the New Statesman that that is all she will get. The Ulster State will never function.

The Ulster Lie Again When a New Zealand day-lie man is cornered in an argument he makes an appeal to the gallery and runs away. An instance of this occurred in the Star last week, when the editor, studiously avoiding the real issue raised by himself, ran away from a letter of Father Silk's with the remark that Ulster was prosperous under British rule. Now that is the sort of remark one would look for from the Star editor. It is part of the stock-in-trade of those who are hired to write to order about the Irish Question with not the remotest knowledge of the subject. The wild and unblushing assertion that Ulster was prosperous is a characteristic British method of argument. Just as the No-Popery ranters make ridiculous statements in confidence that the people who support them are asses, in the same manner anti-Irish editors and politicians find that it pays to reiterate boldly and without proof the sort of statements that have been so often exposed that in a civilised country a schoolboy would be whipped for uttering such nonsense. Nonsense, sheer and shameful, is the Star editor's statement. that Ulster prospered under British rule, and we should not like to think that there is a schoolboy in Dunedin who could not prove to him that balderdash of that type is long out of date. Among the recent exposures of the falsehood is a valuable work, nublished in London early this year, by Mr. W. A. McKnight. Let us add that Mr. McKnight was so solicitous for accuracy that he employed a leading firm of chartered accountants to check his figures and to certify the correctness of his calculations. His bbok shows that, so far from being prosperous, Ulster's average income tax per head of population is less than that of Leinster and Munster. He disposes completely of the fiction of Ulster's financial superiority over the rest of the Irish provinces. He then goes on to examine the state of education and bear in mind that he gives cold statistics, guaranteed by chartered accountants, at every step—and finds that "it will be seen that the Ulster counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, and Londonderry with the city of Belfast, had higher percentages of persons between the ages of 9 and 21, and 9 and 40, who could neither read nor write at the- date of the 1911 census, than had the Counties of Leitrim and Roscommon in the Province of Connacht. ? In the 9-21 age stage ;a; group of three of the five Connacht counties had a

percentage just .01 lower than that of the above-named Ulster counties. When it is remembered that this is the group of Ulster counties of which so much propaganda has been spread broadcast in England to the detriment of the other provinces, one is not prepared to find the educational conditions shown by the census. It is difficult, after having had dinned into one’s ears for years that Ulster set the whole country an example 1 of educational progress, to credit the figures, when first seen, that show this result.”

Within Ulster itself, he finds that the Reports of the Commissioners of Education prove that while Catholic schools in Ulster are good, the rest are overcrowded, insanitary, and inefficient. This is surely rubbing it in ! As regards the work of County Councils for Higher Education, it is shewn that Leinster is first, Munster second, Connacht third,. and Ulster last. Ulster has the record for the, rate of infantile mortality in Ireland. It has also the record for illegitimate births. Police statistics prove that per 100,000 of the population Connacht had 2, Munster 6.6, Leinster 6.82, and Ulster 35.81 habitual criminals ! The same source proved that the ratio for houses known to be the resort of habitual criminals was Connacht none, Leinster 0.64, Munster 0.95, Ulster 10.42. From this authoritative work and from many others it seems that while Ulster has the record for immorality, for criminality, for houses of evil fame, and for wretched schools and ignorant children, the same Ulster is financially behind Munster and Leinster. Now facts such as these are known so well to all our readers, and to all people of ordinary intelligence, that it is necessary to point out that it is only the editor of a New Zealand day-lie who seems to require correction regarding them. Is there not such a thing as affected ignorance ?

The Sinn Fein Army

Everybody who remembers how degenerate the British in England have become in recent years must be amused when reading Greenwood’s inspired accounts of heroic victories won by one policeman over fifty Sinn Feiners. With the record of the English troops fresh in mind, with the utter collapse of England’s best-bred and best-fed cricketers before Australia a matter of present-day record, with the historical fact that it took about ten Englishmen to beat one Boer proved beyond doubt, is it likely that anyone not a fool would believe on Greenwood’s worthless word the tales of victories over Sinn Fein ? Visitors from Ireland tell us of the number of coffins spirited away to England quietly for burial. English papers tell us of the constant appeals for recruits to keep up the strength of the Auxiliaries and “Black-and-Tans”; and all the while Greenwood’s hired press, at home and abroad, tells us of large numbers of Sinn Feiners and of comparatively small numbers of British put out of action. Now we learn from two distinct sources that the facts are exactly the contrary of what Greenwood says. Whole districts have been cleared of British forces by Sinn Fein. Ambushes have put terror into the apostles of frightfulness. Raids on military stores have been crowned with success and large supplies of arms, ammunition, and stores have been captured, while others have been destroyed. In Cork County alone twice as many British soldiers have been killed and wounded as were alleged by Greenwood to have been put out of action in all Ireland. Compare the following extract from the Irish Bulletin (Official Copy, Monday, May 30, 1921) with the stories retailed by our cables: “In the four weeks ending May 28, 1921, 192 attacks were delivered against Brifish patrols and barracks in Ireland, in contrast with 15 delivered in the May of 1920. This represents an increase of over 1200 per cent, in the activities of the I.R.A. In the majority of these engagements the British had the advantage in numbers, equipment ,and protective armament. Yet, in the present month, the casualties inflicted on the British forces were 76 killed and 106 wounded, as against 25 Republican troops killed and 18 wounded. ' “In an effort to explain the incessant reverses suffered by British armed forces at the hands of the 1.R.A., Dublin Castle issues reports of these actions

more worthy of Baron Munchausen than of any serious chronicler. The strength of the Republican forces is usually quadrupled, the losses inflicted on them exaggerated to a ridiculous degree, the casualties suffered by the British - forces either wholly or partially suppressed, and the most grotesque accounts are published of the ‘ bravery ’ of the British and the cowardice of the Republicans.”

Foiling the Enemy "The trenching of roads is now carried out all over Ireland by Republican troops, rendering the enemy's road transport practically useless. An example of this was given in the Firies area of County Kerry in the last days of April. A decision to round up. all the Republicans within the area was taken by the local military authorities. The operation was to have lasted several days, and a great body of troops were to have been employed upon it. Information of this operation reached the local Republican Headquarters, and a few hours before it was timed to take place all the roads in the area were deeply trenched. The first party of the enemy arrived soon afterwards in fourteen lorries, but was unable to reach the district marked out for the round up. After an unsuccessful effort to overcome the difficulty the enemy withdrew without a single prisoner." Republican troops entered several towns, among which were Westport, Kilmanagh, Castleblaney, and Dunmanway (the headquarters of the Auxiliaries for the whole Cork district). The British remained in the barracks and refused to come out and fight in the open. Compare that report with the cables we have had so often telling us that the contrary was the case.

British Gentlemen

Our press has been telling us that the Irish people of America and of the Dominions urged de Valera to accept the terms offered by David Lloyd George. Our press was wrong ns usual. The Irish in America would be very disgusted if de Valera did anything of the kind. We know that our Self-Determination League branches have sent messages assuring de Valera that they realise that it is for the Irish people to decide for themselves and that impertinent outsiders must not try tc guide them. We know also that the Australian and New Zealand and American papers that stood by Sinn Fein from the first are unanimous in their support of de Valera now. We know another thing: we know that the day-lie men who have calumniated the Irish people are v sorry that the Sinn Fein leaders have not been fooled as so many others were fooled by Lloyd George ; and we know that, while our own people, and all men to whom war pledges mean more than scraps of paper, will still be true, the hirelings who cloaked the murders of the “Black-and-Tans,” the supporters of Brithunnism, the unprincipled editors who after all their war cries have recently joined in the attacks on a small nation, will rally once again round the Union Jack and tell the same old lies about Sinn Fein “murder gangs” and publish the same old faked reports sent out to them by their masters at home. They will once more pursue their ignoble trade : they will resume their occupation of pandering to the P.P.A. and to the bosses who have taught them that truth and honor mean nothing. Like the British gentlemen they are they will henceforth be British and draw their pay for the dirtiest wdrk ever done by creatures made to the likeness of man. That morning paper editor who published an atrocious forgery about Ireland and who tried -to hide his guilt by suppressing letters exposing the forger, who published headlines which attributed to Sinn Fein murders done by Orangemen, who has no space for speeches made about Ireland by decent people while he has columns for the P.P.A., will, once more, like the British gentleman that he is, prostitute his office to his own self interest. He will not walk alone. The other hirelings will fall into line too. One might imagine on external evidence that the evening paper man, who scoffs like a bully at “the would-be Republic,” who tells us what a scurrilous London gutter-snipe, fed on smut, thinks of de Valera, was

some ill-bred schoolboy. But we know that he too is a British gentleman. He also will take the side of the strong against the weak;'he also will stand for might against right and for rapine against justice: for indeed it takes a man to do otherwise. They, like their masters, will do as they have done before ; and it will astonish nobody, just as what they write about Ireland affects nobody. Remember that they are British gentlemen. Carson once said that he was thankful that, unlike David Lloyd George, he was not paid to spit out dirt. He also added that he almost mistook Mr. George for a gentleman. He said “a gentleman,” pure and simple; for we all know that Mr. George is a British gentleman, which is quite another thing altogether. He is a Marconi schemer ; his Government was involved in a gigantic swindle; he has looked after his own relations well; he has an international reputation as a pledge-breaker. But, while Carson almost mistook him for a gentleman, he remains a British gentleman— exactly like the protector of the forger and the scribe who might be taken for an ill-bred schoolboy. Such people we shall not have with us. Non tall auxilio, nec defensoribus istis tempus eget : we can do without helpers of that kind.