IRELAND TO=DAY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 81, 30 December 1907, Page 8

IRELAND TO=DAY.

THE CINDERELLA OF THE NATIONS AS VIEWED BY AN IRISH JOURNALIST. (Specially Written fob The Dominion.) ■ •'(Recently-a gontleman called at Thh \ Dominion: office and announced himself as an Irish journalist, just out from Ire- ' land, seeking work. As the result of his ; call, , he was deputed to givo a brief ! sltotch- of fclio position of affairs in Ire- ' land as they appeared to him at the tiino ho left'-tho country a few weeks hack. In view of- the frequent messages concerning Irish affairs published in the columns of .tho New Zealand -Press of recent times, his . ideas, given below, ...-should-prove of interest.)Ireland, which at ono time Was tho nursing mother of'saints, the chief, seat of learning in, tho world, tho' island home of mighty warriorSj and withal a-powerful nation 1 , has dwindlod, decayed,' and fallen to pieces so much., that it. is now. very often styled the " Cinderella of the Nations "—and undoubtedly there is ample justification for the appellation. Jt is not necessary to go into the recesses of Irish-history to find out tho influences and happenings which . brought about; the condition, of,-tilings-which at present obtain in Ireland. Suffice it to say that the seed of the unrest now rampant throughout tho length and. breadth of tho land was sown in the year 1800, when Iroland was deprived of her Parliaipcntj and the making of her laws passed over to the English. Sinco that timo Irish. trade 'and commerce have suffered - considerably,, .and ,as the, London "Times" would.say, when speaking of Irish emigration; .'.'The iCelt' is' going' with a vengcance."' What Irish Members are Doing. Brit Irish statesmen: have been-working hard—and aro still working,hard—to try arid secure for the country a re-edtablisllment of her Parliament in Dublin.- While somo of the Irish members of Parliament aro doing their best for tho count'l7, there aro othor hypocritical and supercilious members who adopt a priliqy of their own, for motives, best known' to themselves, and instead of doing, any good, they set tho clock back, with tho result that the Irish' party'has scarcely evor been' .in , a position, sitice' the time of ParnellJ to., present ;an "united front to the Government. At, the - liead-. of the Irish party is ' an ideal; statesman 1 ' and an excellent orator, Mr.. Johli Redmond, . who really .has his country's interest-, at heart, and ho has a good many, loyal supporters; but of what avail ? Tho party, with'disunion .in its;, ranks, aiid . misunderstanding between its members, can never'achievo its object while this state of things continues-to exist. Until the party . voices',it's . feolings as one man, John Redmond and his .supporters will -ho "standing 911 ono leg,"' and if the present stateof affairs bo takon as a criterion it is almost apparent that they will have a long'stand. 1 But a scries of "unity, meetings" ivoro .held in Ireland recently, with tno object of filling up the breaclie3 and healing the sores which existed between Irish M.P.'s. • Whether the'so.meetings have attained'their object, or. ivhether they ; resolved - themselves into gatherings of tho : people for the. purpose of- airing eloquence,'.! rim not vat,- present' quit'o. certain ; byt certain, it is-, that .more- eloquence . .has b^en';-wasted,.in- Ireland, making "final 'onslaughts on.the Government," than has ever found utteranee. in Tammany Hall, and tho Irish people at presont seem to bo as far from Homo Rule as thoy were fifty yeafß ago. Sinn Fein Poljcy. The words "Sinn, Fein" are.of Irish origin, meaning "for ourselves," and a new movement under that' title has been started, in Iroland. ' Its' mairi features are:—The withdrawal of the Irish party from Parliament, tho revival and establishment of 'indutries, and tho boycotting of English and foreign produce. • In short, it metins that the Irish people will produce all their requirements in Ireland, and as much as . possible'live on their own. Tho-movement, which is'as ye,t in its infancy, is slowly-gain-ing headway, and has already' w'oll a good many converts. To back uptlio principles of the movoment, and to record its doings, a paper similarly styled has been established in Dublin. ' Already some Nationalist monikers of Parliament- have boon induced to join'the-movoment; and have gone over to tho Sinn Fein standard. It is' a movement which is likely to gain somo headway, and has been doscribed by its' promoters as "a step in tho right direction." It lias many ardent supporters,' and I know two cases where' men went to' gaol for fourtoon days rathor than pay .'2sl 6d. each dog-tax. The Language Movement. A desperate effort is .also being mado to revivo the Irish larigua'go. The father of this movement is Dr. Douglas Hyde, who started 'a" mission somo fourteen yoars ago to again bring- into active existence . the "language -of the Gael," as well as Irish song, music, and dance. Tho movement, because of its universal popularity, has advanced by leaps and. bounds," and the average schoolboy or girl- attending even .the National schools can now speak the . vernacular fluently, as weir as sing and dance' after'"the good old Irish style." -But some timo ago the advancement of the languago collided with the duty of law officers in this way: The zealous Nationalists - of Dublin went so far as : to have'thbir names printed in Irish characters on their carts, thereby formulating -a puzzle for policemen. Tho; offenders were prosecuted wholesale, and fined. Some ; trouble' also cropped •up witlithe, Post Office through the addressing of correspondence in Irish. AH correspondence so addressed had of necessity to go to Dublin, this being-the only place whore Irish sorters were employed. . Delays txere long, and complaints many, but tho Post Office hit the', nail on the head once and for all by" making its programme•" No- Surrender," aiid'sticking to that programme. 1 Emigration. It is rarely indeed that-an emigrant' ship starts from the British' Isles for- any. part of- tho. world without having a few Irishmen on, hoard, but by far the greater number of Irish . emigrants go to tho United States' of America. Year in,- y'oar out, this exodus goes- on—tho stream, so to speak,' flows perpetually. In the United States the Irish- element is strong, and they form, a decent percentage of the population. This is not to' be wondered at when . ono considers that last year over 54,000 persons left Iroland for the States, and that a proportionate number have loft for years past: Tho'chief reason for this outpouring of tho nation's life blood is lack of employment at' home and the tempting wages offered elsewhere. General, Generally .speaking, the country is in a vory peaceable condition, save, in a few districts—in Roscommon, Galway, and Tipperary, where "cattle-driving" is being prosecuted, and it iV only thoso districts that the judges in thoir circuits characterise as being "disturbed and unsettlod," but in the majority •of cases their remarks amount to . "peaceful and law-abiding." Things as a wholo look fairly "blue," and with-disunion betwoen tho members of the Irish Parliamentary party, a - new organisation moving in an opposite direction, tho population of tho country growing loss and less ovory year, because of emigration and the poople to the north of tho Boyno "making faces".'at those to the'south of it, and :they in turn repeating the "attack," I am sorry to st-ato that Ireland does resemble a "Cinderella of tho nations."