Exposure of Anti-Irish Propaganda

New Zealand Tablet, 27 October 1921, Page 37

Exposure of Anti-Irish Propaganda

IMMORAL CLERGYMAN SUBSIDISED: PATRIOTIC CHIEF CLERGYMAN IMPRISONED. David Duncan Irvine, pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Morris Park, was denied citizenship of the U.S.A., at Long Island City, on the grounds of shocking immorality. This clergyman, who was formerly in Bangor, has been 13 years in U.S.A., where he devoted all his energies to anti-Catholic and anti-Irish propaganda work. He was the official manager of the Coote anti-Irish tour, and in that capacity got a great deal of prominence. Coote is now a member of the mock parliament in Belfast. , In a letter to the Irish News, the Rev, Dr. J. A. H. Irwin, Dunore, Killead, and Muckamore, commenting on the “admirable exposure” of the ex-Rev. Irvine, says: “This was the worthy gentleman who published all sorts of inaccurate cablegrams about me in America. .Wherever I went he pursued me with telegrams, which sometimes the press refused to publish, in which case they were circulated in pamphlet form. He was one of the leading spirits in bringing the Coote mission to America and their chief sponsoi and organiser when there.” . Mentioning that the ex-Rev. Irvine founded the Society for Promoting Good Relations between Great Britain and Ireland (this is apparently the National Patriotic Alliance), Dr. Irwin says this society was “primarily to perpetuate the salary of the Rev. D. D. Irvine and to dupe politically old .women on both sides of the Atlantic, as he had already duped morally young ones in his various charges. He seemed to have an unlimited amount of funds, for he spent almost as much in cablegrams and telegrams and printing in regard to me as would have paid my fare across the Atlantic.” “Further, Irvine states that he- boasted of being S in communication with the leaders of our Church, and published cablegrams in regard to me purporting to come from them, and I regret to say that many members of my v own congregation were misled by his brazen-faced audacity. It was this sort of thing that made our Church stink in the nostrils of all right-thinking Americans of all denominations an influence that I tried .in my own humble way, and with the time and health at my disposal, to counteract, for which I have been persecuted beyond description ever since.” Meanwhile the Cooties in Ireland have been trying to ruin Dr. Irwin and to drive him out of his ministry. The charge levelled against him is the frivolous one “of having associated with Mr. de Valera while in America.” It is perfectly true that he did so, and it is equally true that Mr. Coote associated with the Rev. David Duncan Irvine. The choice lies between the ministers. Meanwhile it is remarkable that all the members of the congregation of Killead, including those who were hostile, were heartily and unanimously of the opinion that Dr. Irwin had discharged his ministerial duties with great faithfulness and marked ability. Killead parish has indeed become famous. It is stated to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, Presbyterian <. congregations,in Ireland, dating since 1660. Four ministers of the congregation have suffered imprisonment at the hands of the English Government. One of these was arrested and imprisoned as a “seditious person” in 1798. Dr. Irwin was recently the victim of a plot. He was arrested and sentenced by court-martial to two years’ ini- • prisonment after the finding in his house of a farmer’s gun for which there was ho ammunition, and a revolver in useless condition, with ammunition which would not fit it. He was, however, released after three weeks. Such is the persecution of the worthy minister, beloved of his congregation, long an object of calumny, but now vindicated in a remarkable manner. “Blessed are they who suffer for justice’ sake.” Their reward v will be great. Ireland is fortunate in the character of those who sustain her cause, and among those who have suffered- and been vindicated, the name of Dr. J. A. H. Irwin will be'held in high esteem and affection in Killead and far beyond it, in Ireland and America.