IRELAND IMPALED.

NZ Truth, Issue 135, 18 January 1908, Page 1

IRELAND IMPALED.

" Patriots "—Pure or ?

How deplorable it is to learn that m spite of the heroic sacrifices pf Irish patriots, and the readiness with which some of the bravest and best of the sons of Erin have laid down their lives to obtain freedom and independence for the land that they love, there is still grave disunion among the jmen who, m Ireland, have long been foremost as spokesmen of the people ! Why is it that two such men as William O'Brien and John Redmond are unable, apprently, to reconcile their differences, and that the party is thus rendered incapable of achieving that which can only be oltybaiined by those wbo sink personalties and present a united front to the common enemy ■? Let us see. ** ' • The Irish party, led by John Redmond has, unfortunately, not moved with the times. While it is as vociferous m its demands . for Home Rule for lr-eland as ever, it seems to be less capable of arousing the enthusiasm of the Irish people than that of the Nationalist Party m the days of Parnell. This is largely because the people' of Ireland have moved'li_^eir~__,:i>he rest" of the peoples of the world ; and,' therefore, they" desire to know iwhat the Redmondites would do with a Parliament on College Green, if at last such a body ■were wrested from the British Tory House of Lords'. About this matter, the riot particularly Democratic Irish gentlemen who are selected by the Redmondite machine to run into the British House of Commons as representatives of. the Irishi people are particularly xeticent. Their policy is one that remarkably resembles the child's request to another child, "Open your mouth and shut your eyes, and see what God will send you!" Jrisb electors are, however, Ifeginning to be greatly dissatisfied with such a policy ; and they, therefore, are falling away from the Rednnondites, and -v irsor^^-nrr numbers, are giving m their adhesion to the \ Sinn Fein, and o her organisations. * a a. Inde-- it must be fairly clear to very many Irish electors that a Parliament composed of the class of men that the Redmond "machine" (with the powerful aid of Australian money) pitchforks into the House of Commons as representatives of the Irish people is not likely to have much sympathy with the wretchedlypaid Irish agricultural laborer, or with the artisans and laborers of the cities. Thus it is that we- find the Redmori'dite members of the House of Commons actually doing their futile best to prevent the election to the House of Commons of a stalwart Irish representative of Labor like Peter Curran, who was -elected to the House of Commons as the member for Jarrow m spite o£ determined'Redmondite .opposition- Thus it is that we find the Irish people backward as far as Labor* organisation is concerned, and that what has been done for the wagercarners of Ireland, as' distinguished fVom the small farmers, has been / done m spite of the "cold shoulder" of -the Redmondites. / * • ..' * • That tbe Trish people have a right to be governed m their own country by renrfisentatives of the Irish peonle is realised by the great majority of Irishmen, and is admitted by all friends of Ireland ; but, after all; a bourgeois Parliament, a Parliament composed of ' city lawyers, publicans, farmers, a?td "aristocrats" whose antagonism to British government is only thai it i^ British, and not that it is plutocratic, is not likely to be much good to the many thousands of Iristfi toilers who suffer from poverty more ' terrible that* that 'experienced an any other part .. of Wctprn Eu/rone. To the man that is plundered, and left naked, hungry and beaten b~ the roadside, it matters very/ litfe whether those vho h.ave reduced him to such a plifi't were born iri the "same island as i*fm<jfif, or m some other part of the w">rid. The' mpn, women, and child run that wetfe recently <?hot down. In Belfast wo«W nroKiMv have obicH^d to tVbiillHj's that laid thorn 1,-tw iiiH as ptron-^lvi if tbe res"on cibili'tr for firiwr 't'bop. h"IM.R rested upon tbr Tn<;h members of an Trish MiTii^tw •whose heat? oaiarters were in' Dublin. i \ * * '.. \ • Tl" 1 pffort.s that haVe \been 'made to bring aibout a re"-unioyi \of the two Sections of the Irish Party that ar«

led by William O'Brien and 'John Redmond, certainly make a . hopeful sign— 'although they do not seem to have been successful. O'Brien is a politician of a better stamp than Redmond, and is to some extent m touch with- organised labor. It is to his credit, too, that he saw , through the futility of the alliance that had been made by Redmond with the Liberal Party, an alliance that resulted m the Liberal Government having .the face to offer a pretended scheme of Home Rule to the Irish Party that was, very properly, indignantly rejected by a great Convention of Irish delegates, and which sqheme was far. inferior to' the ' Devolution Scheme offered to Iceland by, the Tory Lord Dun-raven. As has frequently been pointed out by William' O'Brien, the Tories actually did offer to Ireland, under the Devolution Scheme, an Irish Parliament. They nailed it a Statutory Body ; . but the name mattered little. , The Statutory Body was a Parliament. It was certainly far better than the Irish Council Bill that was offered by the Liberals, and that was actually practically accepted by John Redmond, until the indignation of the National Convention -held m Dublin caused Redmond to say that he never, infant to accept the Bill. * '* • It seems now, that /John Redmond, having been forced by his followers ' to make a move m the direction of union with the O'Brienites, has discovered an excuse for refusing to proceed any further. He declares that Mr O'Brien wanted the whole of they arrangements for the calling of a Convention to consider the question of re-union placed m the hands of three of his nominees ; but William O'Brien declares that this is not true ; and 'that two of those whom he suggested as persons to carry out the instructions of the National Directory of the Irish Party were actually followers of Mr Redmond himself. Obviously, John Redmond would much prefer that the candid critic, William O'Brien, should, with -his supporters, not be m a position to make liis voice heard at the centre of Nationalist organisation ; but Redmond will have to invent something much more plausible than his story about O'Brien attempting to take into >is hands the whole of the strings of the National organisation. * * ■ ■ In spite of professional politicians m the ranks ofthe National organisation, it seems probable that unity will be achieved, and that Irish Nationalism will thenceforth take on a new complexion. There should be no more' alliances, like the Redmond al- 1 liance, with the Liberals— whom Daniel O'Connell most appropriately termed "base, brutal and \ bloody Whigs" ; nor should there be any more hostility shown to the growing British Labor Party, which, were it strong, enough, would grant legislative iddependence to the people of Ireland. \ln future Nationalists should show that they are as alive to the necessity Of economic changes as are the members of any Labor organisation. Let this be done, and the flower of the manhood of Ireland may cease to drift towards the Sinn Fein organisation, which aims at the establishment of a voluntary Parliament m Dublin, the assistance, by exclusive dealing, of all Irish industries, and the withdrawal of the Irish members from the British House of Commons. Erin's star of hope still shines. ■'