"A MATTER OF FORCE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 66, 19 March 1928, Page 8

"A MATTER OF FORCE

(To the Editor.) •Sir,—ln your issue of Wednesday last you tell us in the course of your article on the state of affairs in Samoa, that' "government is ultimately a matter of force." The great men who founded the American Republic state, inter alia, in the Declaration of Independence, that covermnents derive their authority "from the consent of the governed," and the \oico of history confirms them. When the people ot Israel long ago demanded a king after the custom of otner nations, Saiiiuel the . Prophet sought to induce them to letam the republican government ordained by JUoses in the wilderness of Sinai, but ultimately he gave way to the pressure Ot public opinion. We have it on the authority of Matthew Paris that at the coronation of John, the Archbishop reminded him that he held his throne during good behaviour, and there is the fact tha^four English kings have been deposed. It was Sir Robert Walpole who, When public feeling ran high over his lainous jbxcise Bill, withdrew the measure, declaring that he would never enact a law at the price of blood. It is true, of course, that the law may be enforced even by imposing the penalty of death, but a fact,that there is no worse tyrant than the State when it enorces an unjust law. In that case we see njusUce clothed with the majesty of the aw and in the name of law violating the i ghts of men. Such a tyranny, no matter the force behind it, carries the seed of its own destruction^ of which fact history is replete ; with confirmation. Here are a few instances: In-August, 1819, a mass meeting assembled in Peter's Field, Manchester, to support the extension of the franchise and the abolition of "rotten boroughs." J.he proceedings were orderly, but the military found an excuse to charge the assembled people, and a number were killed and many wounded, while the chief speaker, Mr. Hunt, was later sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Subsequently however Mr. Hunt, was elected to the House of Commons, the Reform Bill was passed,, the franchise was extended, the rotten boroughs" were abolished, and the- Peterloo Massacre, is regarded as infamous by posterity. It is a piece of history of which you would never read of in the "School Journal," for example, because everybody is ashamed of it. Again,.in December, 1834, a fearful conflict occurred at Rathcorma'ck, County Cork, Ireland, when a military force attempted to collect tithes from an unwillin-* population. Thirteen , people were killed and a number wounded, and so terrible was the popular resentment that people kissed the blood-stained earth and invoked the vengeance of Heaven on the murderers of their children! Such was the state of things in Ireland when the law sought to compel the people to pay tithes for the support of a church to which they did not belong. ' The best commentary was supplied by the Gladstone Act of 1869 by which the Church was'disestablished. . ■■ . ■ . Yet another example from Ireland. One ' bunday in the year 1886 a meeting of peasants assembled at Mitchelstown to protest against certain evictions then in progress. The police charged the people, several young men were killed, and public feeling throughout Ireland was .wrought to a_ terribly high pitch. . Ameliorative legislation has long since supplied the answer of civilised opinion, and perliaps the best answer was given thirty-five years later. A son of Joseph Chamberlain, from his place in the House of Commons, defended a Home Rule Bill giving Ireland more than Gladstone ever dreamed of. From Australian history may be selected tho Eureka Stockade affair at Ballarat in December, 1854. It is no mote than simple truth to state that there the Governor, Sir Charles Hotbam, made himself and the law, whose exponent he professed to be,' supremely ridiculous. At any rate the grievances of the diggers were redressed, while their leaders enjoyed the respect and confidence of the people of Australia. No, Mr. Editor, the law must have, something better than force to recommend it if it is to be accorded the respect of the people who are obliged by it.—l am, etc. P. J. O'REGAN. 10th March. , : - ,: . > -