SINN FEIN.

NZ Truth, Issue 117, 14 September 1907, Page 6

SINN FEIN.

• : • IRELAND FOR THE IRISH.

"(By Morrison Dayidson.y

In the present crisis the proper attitude for Ireland to assume tO7 ■wards England is- withdrawal from. England's Parliament.- It "becomes necessary for me to resign my membership of the Irish Party. I take this step because I am convinced that unless the Irish Party sever their connection with the British Parliament, Ireland will 'gradually . become to occupy the same (contemptible) position m that AssemJb'ly that Scotland occupies.— .C. J. Dolan, M.P., North Leitrim., Such is the Home Rule Gospel according to the Sinn Feiners, and who that has an open mind can doubt the wisdom 61 the new departure? Not that the departure is so very new ; for a's the ably-ccnducted weekly, "Sin Fein" (Dublin), admonished the Parliamentarians), ' Charles Stuart Parnel I m vain recommended withdrawal from Westminster 26 years agoHe proposed to his adherents to afoandon the British house of Commons altogether, to, return to Ireland, and carry on a Home Rule Government de facto, until such time as it should become a Home Rule Government de jure. But this was too much for the hypnotised ' Parliamentarians. They maintained that they could attain Home Rule quicker by action at Westminster than by action In Dublin. And at Westminster they remain, where, instead of Home Rule after 35 years' waiting., they arepresented by the Omnipotent Majority of the Great Liberal, Party,, with Its Government of talents and virtues, with the Irish Councils Bill ! Wihat a ridiculous mush ! What, a satire on Palavers m General and.Palavers m particular ! DE FACTO HOME RULE. There is, m sooth, no other form of that political commodity to be had where the Predominant Partner is concerned. If either Irishmen or Scotsmen want Home Rule they must learn to take Jit, not ask for it. Unto him that taketh shall be given, but* from him that merely aske'th shall be taMn"away even that he hath. As for mv. Caledonian countrymen, at St. Stephen's, they are too servile and Aii^'Ophile to go through so much as the formality of asking for anv.thdng ; though they must well know tha*t rural Scotland is being devastated., by imported deerstalkers, while her urban population is , the. most "overcrowded" and "slummy" m Europe. But, if Scotland is ' derelict, there is hope for Ireland still. Wihat Hungary has achieved m our own day, with complete success, ought not to he beyond the grasp of such a talented and strenuous race as the Irish '— "Our policy to-day" (says : "Sinn Fein") "is the policy. Parnell proposed 2G years ago— that Ireland, denying tho .right " of the British Parliament to bind -her, should carry on de facto the Government of the country for herself, relying on the loyalty and patriotism of its people, and the substantial . support of Irishmen all over the world. We have to-day m .the County ■ Councils of Ireland the machinery-.' which we lacked m Parnell's time, and we have a people, though lesser m number, better equipped by education and trainins; for successful government. The British, Parliament denies Ireland Home Rule after 35 years of Irish effort m , the British Parliament. But Ireland can take Home Rule 'tb-morrowj by withdrawing her ineffectual forces from Westminster and assembling them m Dublin, to ' act m conjunction with the General Council of Irish Councils as the Legislature and Executive of tlig Nation." It is improbable that Parnell had any very profound acquaintance with English history; but his tinsignt into English character and his statesman" like power of generalisation thereon were most remarkable. Witness: "I do not believe m conciliating tbe English. Conciliate them %& the Day of Judgmcfflt, and you will not .set the breadth of my nail fronv them." "TJiat, opposition to English rule is best which is most felt. O'Connell gained Catholic Emancipation outside the House of Commons. No amount of eloquence could achieve what outside action has achieved." "The alternative to the British Parliament passing Home Rul& is to frovern Ireland for ourselves. ,bt force England to govern it as a Crown colony." To establish m Ireland's capital a National Lsigis-latiire unsupported toy Force and endowed .with nothing but the MORAL AUTHORITY OF THE IRISH. PEOPLE is the aim of ">Sinn Fein" (ourselves) and who daresj impugn the nobility of the conception;.?. Such a .voiua-

tarily-cfoieyed, voluntarily-assessing Authority would really 'exist jure divino, and be a beacon light ' to the whole world of oppressors and opDressed. And, assuredly", the Sinn Feiners may. with a clear conscience, passively resist the payment of any Imperial imposts whatever. The British Government may refuse Home Rule to the Sister Isle, but it can scarcely altogether ignore the Report of its own Financial Relations Commission, which found that the minimum sum of money taken annually from Ireland m excess of her "equitable share" of Imperial Taxation/ since the year 1853, is £2,250,000. I Now, £2,250,000 per annum since 1853, at legal Interest amounts, m 1907, to £393,412,300. In other words, the British Government owes at this day and hour £89 12s to every man, (woman, and child m Ireland— a sum of money the simple Interest of which would pay all the Rates and Taxes of the country and leave a surplus of a couple of millions sterling per annum for purposes of national development. To the Imperial tax-gatherer the "Sinn Fein''Passive Resister can always retort with emphasis :— "SEND BACK THE MONEY !"• '• In a telling penny pamphlet, "Sina Fein Policy" (Duffy, Dublin), one reads, without too much surprise :— If the Irish Parliamentary Party ( cannot secure such a vote, the policy which it represents stands selfconfessed a failure. The proportion of the total amount plundered*^ by the British Exchequer since the inauguration of Parliamentarism as an Irish policy is £165,712,500. At that date (1871) the taxation per 'head of the people of Ireland was £1 5s 7d. Since that- date the population of Ireland has increased by over a million souls, the tillage lanft has decreased by a million acres,., and the taxation per head has increased hv 18s 9d. It is now £2 4s 4d. In 1871,. when Ireland had no Parliamentary Party, the total a•niount. Ireland was compelled to contribute to the British Government was £6,923,402. Last year,, at the expiration of a generation of Parliamentary action, Ireland was forced to pay to the British Gov-t ernment £9,753,500. ST. STEPHEN'S A BAS !;