The Dominion. FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1916. SEDITION IN IRELAND

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2757, 28 April 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1916. SEDITION IN IRELAND

The Melbourne Branch of the United Irish League undoubtedly voices the feelings of the overwhelming majority of the Irishmen of Australia in its cablegram to'Me! Redmond expressing "abhorrence at the meaningless'and futile rebellion in Dublin." The New Zealand Hibernians are just as emphatic in their condemnation of the madness of the ' wreckers, who, by joining hands with the Huns, have struck a foul blow at the thousands of Irish lads who are fighting so gallantly to save the world from the galling yoke of Prussian militarism. This attempt to dishonour Ireland by making her an instrument for spreading German' "Kultu'r" has been promptly repudiated with hot indignation by the Irish people living in this part of the world. It is quite certain that the great mass of the people of Ireland are equally emphatic in their [resentment of the traitorous aots of 'the irreconcilables, The real Ireland—the Ireland that hae sent its sons to fight for Kino and Empire —will never allow itsetf to be associated with the cause of the brutal Power which has trampled Belgium under its iron heel, battered ■ Louvain to pieces in a.fit of rage, converted the glorious Cathedral of Reims into a heap of stones,and murdered women and little children on the high seas. _ The mere thought of co-operation with such a Power must be- abhorrent to Irishmen in all parts of the British Empire. Like their fellow-citizens of. all creeds and classes they will bo glad to know-that "this most recent German campaign, "as Mr. Asquith terms'the. Dublin rising, is doomed to ignominious failure. One cannot help feeling that the trouble might have been averted if the British Government had dealt more firmly with- the propaganda of sedition which has been going on for some time past. It is astonishing that the extraordinary happenings described in the article in the London Times (from which extracts were published in .yesterday's Dominion) 'should have been tolerated by the authorities. In view of the warnings that have been given by the newspapers and the facts that have been made public from time to time it is difficult to understand why the Government should have refrained- from putting a stop to the activI ities of the sedition-mongers and nipping the trouble in the bud. The flabbiness of the authorities seems to be quite inexcusable. No, effective measure appears to have been takes to prevent the Circulation of disloyal publications, or to suppress the anti-recruiting campaign which , .seems to have been carried on in the most open way. There is only too much justification for the criticism which has been directed against the Government for its weakness, indecision, and lack of foresight.-. The authorities have shut their eyes to. unpleasant- facts, and now the inevitable rude awakening has come. - , In spite of the secret plottings of the irreconcilable minority, it is absolutely true to say'that the war has worked wonders as regards the unification .of Ireland. Catholic and Protestant, Unionist and Nationalist, have mutually agreed to cease from domestic strife, until the common enemy has been overthrown. Ireland is-being united by the blood of her sons shed on the battlefields of Flanders and Gallipoli. This idea is finely expressed in a recent address by the Anglican Bishop of Ossory,: • . -

North and south (he says) blood has been poured out freely in the common cause of King, and country, and freedom. The northern regiments and the Irish Guards, the Dublins, and the Monsters, and the Inniskillings, have died in the same trenches for us and for eaoh other. The same grass grows over 'their graves in far-off fields. We make no distinction between them—no distinction between Unionist and Nationalist, Koinan Catholic nnd Presbyterian, and Churchman—when we speak with pride through our tears of' the brave deeds of which our children's children shall tell their children in the days to come. ... It 'has become to me unthinkable that Irishman should draw sword against Irishman hecause of politioal differences when the war is~6ver.

The Freeman's Journal commented most sympathetically on the Bishop's address, and remarked that his references to Ireland and the war were in spirit, and practically in form, identical with those made by Mr. Redmond and his colleagues in every province in Ireland. The cause of the Empire in this war has received whole-hearted and powerful support from Mr. Redmond. Ho js convinced that Britain and her Allies are engaged in a righteous war, and he had appealed to the manhood of Ireland to play a noble part in the fight for freedom—and he has tiot appealed in vain. Mr. Redmond has contributed a stirring preface to a recent book entitled "The Irish at the Front." He points out that though Irish blood' has reddoned the earth of every continent, never until now have the Irish as a people set a national army in tho field.

I have given my lifetime, such as it hos been, to the service of Ireland in a deep faith in the essential nobility and wisdom of the Irish people (writes Mr. Redmond). I should be untrue to that faith if for a moment I had any doubt on this mutter—if I could harbour for n moment the idea that the young men of Ireland could think unmoved of the wistful bewildered faces of their noblo brothers while they hold back, could witch the ranks of the Irish armies thinning, and the glorious regiments, brigades, anil divisions gradually filling up with' others than IrUli soldiers until their character as Irish armies finally vanished and' ceased to exist—and something, I fear, would go with that charactcr which Ireland might never get back. '

When Irishmen at Homo think of the splendid deeds and heroic sacrifices of their sons and brothers at the front it is impossible to believe that they could for a moment give encouragement to the wild malcontents who are not ashamed to betray the cause for which some of the best blood of Ireland is being shed. Men like Mr. Redmond have made Irishmen see that it is Ireland they are called upon to defend. Father Burkk recently reminded the people of .Tippcrary that this is not

England's fight only, for if England went down Ireland would go clown too. If the spiked helmets <jf the Germans should come within sight of Ireland, does anyone think, he asks, that the Sinn Fein Party can keep them out of Ireland ? Is it likely that Germany would treat Ireland differently. from Poland or Belgium 1