IRELAND’S CASE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 243, 8 July 1921, Page 6

IRELAND’S CASE

DEMONSTRATION AT THE TOWN HALL THE DEMAND FOR SELFDETERMINATION A meeting arranged in connection with tha Provincial Convention of the SelfDetermination for Ireland League was held in the Town Hall last night. A. fairly largo audience had assembled to hear “Ireland’s side of the story.” Mr. P. ,1. O’Regan, president of the league, was in the chair. The audience was evidently in sympathy with the views expressed by the speakers, who were frequently applauded. Tho chairman, in ojiening the proceedings, said that notwithstanding "a studied campaign of misrepresentation,” the cause of Ireland did not lack friends in New Zealand. Notwithstanding all that, was being said about crime and terrorism in Ireland, the men of Irish blood were still proud of their country. He regarded it as an astounding doctrine that Ireland could not change its system of government until its people were unanimous. No nation was over unanimous;’the Irish people were very nearly unanimous, and they were entitled to self-determination. If there were crime and terrorism in Ireland, the blame rested with these in high places who had coquetted with Carson and violence. Ireland was very free of real crime, and it did not possess a criminal class. Air. O’Regan proceeded to claim that th* assertion of the right of nations to selfdetermination had been claimed to be one of tho objects of the victors in the late war. Ireland was a unit. Her boundaries had been fixed by God, not by diplomatists. History also showed Ireland to be a nation. He admitted that the people of England and the people of Ireland had interests in common, hut that fact was not a reason why the Irisii people should lack self-determination After accusing the newspapers of a “campaign of calumny,” Mr. O’Regan said that Mr. Lloyd George had addressed a personal appeal to the man who possessed the confidence of the great majority of his countrymen. Mr. De A alera. A voice: President De Valern. Mr. O’Rogan said tlie cable agents, in pursuance of their “campaign of slander and misrepresentation, had suppressed the comments of reputable Bng]ish newspapers on this letter, but had. published the statement of the "Belfast News Totter” that Atr. Do Valera was a. man whose hands were dripping with blood. As a matter of fact, a large eection of responsible opinion in Ervgland was shocked and dismayed by the eon duct of official Englrttnd towards tho Irish people. He believed that the day would come when the English people and the Irish people would apply to one another tho principles of international good-will. Mr. J. J. M'Grath, president of tno Wellington branch of the league, moved the following motion:— "That this meeting affirms its belief

in the principle of national eelf-deter-mination as repeatedly expounded by tho Allied nations daring the late war, and we maintain that Ireland should furnish no exception to the application of that principle. “That this meeting protests against the continued misrepresentation of the case of Ireland in this country by reason of the bias of the cable news and the unfair presentation and suppression of facts by tho Press; an<J, “That this meeting earnestly desires

the utmost good-will between England and Ireland, but is of opinion that reconciliation is not possible until the policy of official outrage shall have been abandoned and ihe army of occupation withdrawn, and the people of Ireland allowed freely to determine their own Government.” Ho assured tho audience of his sincere conviction that the motion was a just one. Ho was tho son of Irish parents, who were driven from their native land by English tyranny to seek an existence in New Zealand, and as a New Zealander of Irish blood he felt fully justifiej in presenting the motion. The league contained representatives of all sections of the community; it had no religious bigotry, and it affirmed the Godgiven and inalienable right of nations, and particularly of small nations, to accept no form of government that had not tho consent aijd approval of the governed. The people of Ireland for a very long period had been firm in- their demand for the right to rule themselves, and the members of the league were going to follow the same course as their countrymen in Ireland an,d “practice the earns heroic restraint that our men in Ireland are showing to-day." Mr. M'Grath contended that Ireland had never won a free gift from England. Fear alone and nothing else moved the British Government. Recognition of that fact was one of ihe cardinal of Sinn Fein, and was fully justified by history. The supporters of tlie league in Now Zealand must give two thing?— time and money. The Press of AVellington would not open their columns free to the "sacred cause of Ireland,” and publicity had to be paid for. Ho urged sympathisers to contribute to Ireland's cause. What was a email financial sacrifice compared to tho sacrifice of the people of Ireland? Air. M'Grath asked for the courageous and determined support of Ireland’s cause. Mr. W. Af. Luxford, president of the AVellington branch, seconded the motion. He said that he was a New Zealander, and had been taught to regard England as the great prolector of mankind and the British flag as a symbol of freedom. He had studied for eighteen years to find why the Catholics bad been so much persecuted, and he urged other people to take no notice of the newspapers, and to read , and learn for themselves. He had found that the Catholic Church stood for truth and justice, and the trouble iu Ireland, therefore, could not be a religious one. England had claimed to fight in the war for the freedom of small nations; but Troland had been left out. and was to-day the only white nation that was not allowed to govern itself. He claimed that the Irish people, should have the right to determine their own form of government without any molestation from the British Government. Catholic Ireland had boon fighting Catholic England for freedom before (here was a Protestant in the world. A'et the Grange Society, representing only nine per cent, of Ihe Irish people, had tried to create an idea that a religions war was raging in Ireland. The Orangemen were really responsible for all tho trouble. Mr. Luxford proceeded to accuse the "Black ami Tans” of having murdered innocent people, maltreated women, and perpetrated other crimes in Ireland. Mr. J. Af'Konzie, vice-president of the Wellington branch, said that the tragedy that was being enacted in Ireland to-day wns not Ireland's tragedy, but England’s. The Trish people had never accepted British rule, and Ihe failure of constitutional agitation was not their fault. ThI position nt present wns that the British Government hod embarked linen n campaign of terrorism in Ireland, and after declaring that a state of war existed, had | practised the shooting of prisoners of war. Air. AFTvonzi- .accused the auxiliarv '••oops : u T’'l"’G of 1v"-lyi rou« oniiditct. ' pre stated that the British nation was I earning the contempt of foreigners bv its treatment of Ireland. Now Zealandi era had a responsibility in the matter I if they did not raifl" their voices on ho. i half of Trelnml. M’lml was happening ■ in Ireland to-day was a menace Io the ; peace of the world. I The Rev. Denn Power told the audi- ! enco that tho Irish priest wns always :> I patriot and an apostle of liberty; ho wns | always ready to lay down his life for liberty. The enemy of the race hail

known this for 700 years, and had always attacked the priests. He said that of all the European nations brought into civilisation by Rome, England alone had proved faithless. Ireland had stood true to Rome, and when free would show England what European civilisation really meant. Dean Power disagreed with Mr. Lloyd George in the claim that Ireland was not a separate, nation because it had lost its own language. He declared that there was “a stronger com munity of feeling between England and the dirty Japs.” thnn between England end Ireland or between England and the United States. He concluded with an appeal to tho newspapers not to charge for the publication of the truth about Ireland. , Mr P Fraser, M.P., was the last speaker He euid ho did not associate himself with any statement from the platform comparing one religion with another or condemning any nation. He fltated that the Press cablegrams were designed to create an impression that all tho acts of violence in Ireland were on ono Side, whereas mbny of tho “crimes” ascribed to Irishmen wore merely acts of retaliation Ihe I 11 people were -being subjected to terrible atrocities because they had demanded the right to control their own affairs Mr. Fraser made a very vigorous and eloquent appeal for Irish , The motion was carried with enthusiasm, and cheer B were given for the cause of Ireland.