AN AMAZING LETTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13501, 27 July 1907, Page 5 (Supplement)

AN AMAZING LETTER.

EXTRAORDINARY IRISH ATTITUDE. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] London, Juno 14. A remarkable letter has been published. It was written by the secretary of the Irish Club,; in London, which numbers prominent and distinguished men of various parties j among its members, to Dr. O'Hea, who is j a well known medical man in South London, and who had been approached on the ' subject of joining the club. After making some inquiries, however, Dr. O'Hea wrote to the secretary had asked the reason for the delaythat he would never become a member while the club included traitors who cheered the Boer victories. In answer to this declaration, Dr. O'Hea, received the following letter dated from the Irish Club,, 28, Charing Cross Road : — "Dear Sir,— have your postcard, and note what you say. I cannot, of course, blame you in any way, but I do blame your proposer. Mr. — and he will have to answer to my board lor proposing a member whose opinions he ought to have known would be objectionable to the members. In the chequered history of Ireland—and, goodness knows, it has been a chequered one there have occasionally been bright periods. Personally, I think the most glorious was the one "in which many of Ireland's sons bravely took part in the defence of the Boers against the tyrants and enemies of their own race and people. Surely their action in cheering the Boer victories was fully justified during the last few weeks, when the very people who are not famed for their national honour have been feting and feasting the plucky general who, I am delighted to know, laid many thousands of the enemy low in one of the most ignominious struggles ever entered into by a nation. Our club is an Irish one, and 1 am pleased to say that up to the present we have admitted no shoneens, nor do we desire to have them as members. _ I regret if I have inconvenienced you in any way by writing or troubling you. I promise it will not occur again.—Your truly (signed), Samuel Gebdes, . (One of Those . who Cheered.)"' The communication was written on the note paper of the Irish Club, and was not marked "private." Dr. O'Hea, himself an Irishman, in his reply told Mr. Geddes that his rhetoric may do on an Irish platform, but it is no good here. Botha was made welcome ill England because he had taken and kept the -oath of allegiance, which was more than could be said for many Irishmen who accepted English money in various occupations, lived among Englishmen, and had the protection of their Hag, and yet were traitors at heart. "Plenty of Irishmen." added Dr. O'Hea, " fought under the Union Jack; some fell under it. And you poor fools cheer!- Ah! yes, you are indeed the friends of Ireland! Cheer away ! It is cheap and safe! But it will not help you to obtain self-government from England." A London paper remarks: "Comment upon the letter of the Irish Club's secretary would appear at first to be almost superfluous. But.when we bear in* mind that the club numbers among its members such men as the Earl of Dun raven. John Redmond. T. P. O'Connor, T. W. Russell, the rank and file of the Nationalist Parly, Alfred Percival Graves, and Stephen Gwynnc, and when we realise that the secretary of a club, writing in his official rapacity, must be regarded as voicing the views and sentiments of the members, the matter becomes something more than a mere ebullition of Irish disloyalty." To-night it is announced that so soon as Lord Dunraven's attention was called to the amazing letter (quoted above) from the secretary of the Irish' Club to Dr. O'Hea, he wrote to the chairman of the committee of management, demanding an explanation as "it was impossible for Lord Dunraven to allow a communication which gloated over the fact that Botha had 'laid thousands of Englishmen low' to emanate from a club of which he was a member without taking serious cognisance of if." The. chairman expressed himself utterly unable to account for the extraordinary outburst. He acted promptly. By means of the telephone and express messages-he got into communication with all the members of the committee of management and summoned a meeting for nine o'clock last night. At the close of the meeting he authorised the following announcement: —"The letter •of Mr. Geddes to Dr. O'Hea was written and sent without the knowledge or the authority of the committee, and we repudiate it on behalf of the club. Its non-poli-tical-and non-soctarian character is the first principle and chief rule of the -club. In admitting Irishmen as members we do not ask what views they hold on politics or religion, and we insist very strongly that those subjects shall not form the subject of conversation or discussion in the club. It is only by a strict adherence to this rule that'the' club has been the success it has, and we recognise that any departure from the rule would mean the ruin of the club. The letter was intended to be a private expression of Mr. Geddes' views. Had it been an official communication from the club it would have been signed by the two secretaries—Mr. Mat-hew and Mr. Geddes. Mr. Geddes' explanation is that he was annoyed at the postcard which Dr. O'Hea, had 'sent iin reply to. a courteous,, letter asking whether he intended to avail himself of the privileges of the club to which he had been elected. Ido not think Mr. Geddes would have written it had he given the. matter half an hour's consideration. "What further proceedings may follow lam not in a position to say. The whole I matter has been sprung upon us so sudj denly." . • '"I am very sorry," said Mr. Geddes to a, press representative, " that I have got my colleagues into trouble over my letter to Dr. O'Hea. It was 'entirely a private expression of opinion, and was never intended to commit the club. T. was very much annoyed with Dr. O'Hea when I wrote the letter. He had been elected to the clubl had seconded his nomination myself—and at the end of six weeks he had not taken any steps to avail himself of the j privileges. In reply to a perfectly courteous letter he raised on a postcard a, highly controversial question, in. contravention lof the rules of the club. As a matter of fact mv letter was not written in the club. I ough't not, I admit, to have written on the club notepapcr. Having said that, I should also like to say that in my capacity as a private individual, and not as an official of the club, I do not regret or withdraw one word or one sentence of the letter I sent to Dr. O'Hea."