INCIDENT IN THE BAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18025, 25 February 1922, Page 9

INCIDENT IN THE BAIL.

INSULT TO THE PRINCESS. MICHAEL COLLINS' REBUKE. AN UNPLEASANT EPISODE. fFUOM OTJB OWN CORRESPONDENT.] LONDON, Jan. 10. Madame Markievicz has probably gained as much notoriety as any other Irish extremist in the past, but never so much as she has gained from her coarse and insulting remark concerning Princess Mary. She is a Sligo woman who married a Polish artist, and is now Minister for Labour in the Dail. One of the first to speak in the resumed. debate on the ratification of the Irish Treaty, she wanted it clearly understood that she was for & co-operative fiommonwealtb, and

the ratifies were for capitalistic oppression. Xfadame Markievicz was much angered, too, at the olive branch tendered to the Southern Unionists. By a familiar device of oratory she assumed all sorts of powers conferred upon this "packet of traitors and oppressors," and then assumed that by the exerciso of these powers they would block all progressive legislation. And then, these fancies having apparently taken in the speaker's brain the lineaments of facts, she turned upon Mr. Griffith for "his deliberate effort .to set up a privileged class," She was very gusty about the Empire, which she called "a thing," and warned the House that the British Government made treaties, but did' not keep them. The new oath, she said, embodied in the treaty was dishonourable. It could be twisted in any form. Personally she would sooner die than make a declaration of fidelity to King George and to the' British Empire. It meant pledging allegiance to the King and the people who were treading down the peoples of Ireland, India, and Egypt. England wanted peace in Ireland in order that she might be able to send her troops to India and Egypt. England wanted the republican army to be turned into a Free State army under the representative of tie King, who was the head of the army, in order that the Black and Tans might be sent to India.

Black Drop of English Blood. f "You know that my family came over j with Henry VIII.," continued Madame j Markievicz, "and by the black drop of English blood in me I know the British s ways and can deal with them. Ah! s Why didn't you send me over as a dele- ? l gate to London?" The Bouse laughed * and applauded. Mr. Collins waa absent, s for some strange magnetism seems to t draw Mr. Collins from the room when c the women speak, and so he missed a very characteristic passage. ■, It was reported, sne sneered, that Lord 1 .Lascellea was to bo Governor-General of "the Irish Free Stat*. It was also reported that the engagement between Princess Mary and Lord Lascelleß was to be broken off, and that Princess Mary was* to marry Michael Collins. There was some laughter, but there would not have been if Michael Collins had been present. There was none when he was j present later. < 'Mr. Collins* Betrothed. > i Mr. Collins, as soon as the Speaker had ( taken the chair, rose with a note or two in his hand to make what he called a , personal explanation. "I understand," | he said, "that while I was not present a deputy for Dublin made a reference '. to my name and to the name of a lady , belonging to a foreign nation which I cannot allow to pass. Some time in our history as a nation a girl went through Ireland and was not insulted by the people of Ireland. I do not come from the class that Countess Markievicz comes from. I come from the plain people of Ireland. The lady whose name was mentioned is, I understand, betrothed to Borne man. I know nothing of her in any way whatever, but the statement might cause her pain, and ib may cause pain to the lady who is betrothed to me, and I stand in a plain way, and will not allow without challenge any deputy of the Assembly of my nation to insult any lady, either of this nation or of any other nation." It was a biting, effective rebuke. Mr, 1 Collins sat down, snapped his jaw square, ! glanced round with challenging eye, and 1 waited for comment,-which never came. , The reference to "the girl who went , through Ireland" was to the maiden about > whom Moore wrote the poem, "Rich and rare were the gems she wore." She undertook a journey alone from one end 1 of Ire-land to the other in the days of k Brien, And so faithfully were the laws of that monarch obeyed that she waar never molested.