UNHAPPY ERIN

NZ Truth, Issue 569, 13 May 1916, Page 3

UNHAPPY ERIN

THE ROGN Or TERROR 1 DUBLIN

Something About the Sinn Fein Leaders

1798 and After

(By "Odin O'Mei.")

Out from many a mud-wall cabin Eyes were patching through the night; Many a manly heart! was .throbbing For the blessed warning sight; V Hundreds passed alqttg: the valley, '■ Like the banshee's llonely croon, And their pikes tney flashed together' At tlie rising of the, mdon. , Sure they- fought for poor old Ireland, And full Bitter "was their fate, Yet what glorious pride and sorrow Fill the name of "nfnety-eight;" For, thank God; c'en (Still are 'creasing Manhood's ranks atniut us Boon, Who will follow m their footsteps At the rising of the That wasVjn 1798,] /but previous to that eventful year, Ireland was practically m constant j rebellion— in an effort to shake off their rulers. However, we are only going back 117, years (a short, period indeed m the history of any* 4 country), for '98, as it Is familiarly kuowjl. has inspired every subseaubrif rebellion. Since '98 we have had 1803, .] 1848, 1860. 18C7. and lastly m the 20th' century, 1916, There ■ ■:'■ ;-..\ : . ■ ■'■■■ •■]( . ' / / .': "■:. WERE MANY MINOR UPHEAVALS m between; m fujit the working classes, peasantry^ and the scholars, poeta, writers and thinkers have been, are, and always will be, antagonistic to foreign rule.. The; politicians were always openly rebellious until the present Liberal Party's advent to power yoked them to the chariot wheels of Imperialism by the neat sop of £400' per member a year, j But the politicians, like the majority of the priests, are drawn from, ■ the." l publicans, commercial, rich ' farming! and professional classes of Ireland. Like the priests, however, they .are ipainly from. the^ and commercial classes. An ; odd small farmer, a«d honest/ democrat gets into Parliitunent. at times, such aa Joe Devlinjj Larry Ginnett, David Sheehy, Colonel Arthur Lynch and a few others. Devlin, however., was a barman,, hence the 7 Orange folk of Sandy Row and the> Shankhill nicknamed him "the we«V bottle- washer." Colonel Lynch is a writer, and fought m the Boer War against England. He was eventually arrested, tried for treason; and sentenced to- death. But the British Government of that day very wisely Indeed did not make him a martyr, so the colonel, by a narrow margin has no niche m Ireland's valballa. Unfortunately, like every writer, speaker, poet . and thinker m Ireland, who, being j well abreast of the times, Lyncli does not see eye to eye with the Irish churchmen. Lynch, though practically a | Catholic, Is cordially disliked by the Catholic clergy. It must be stated h^ro that the majority of the priests jdo not wish for total separation ' from England, for the simple reason that, though the Catholic Church tolerates all forms of Government, if aho had her way, there would not bo many* Hence the priests, publicans and commercial classes contribute the power behind tho Irish ParUaraentaif-y Party— a very formidable power indeed. But not all the priests are pro-parliamentarians, nor all the bishops |eltber. Edward John O'Pwyer, Blshjop; of Limerick, stands out aboye ; liierh all as a HOT AND FEARLESS IRISHMAN. Long ago ho repudiated Redmond and hte party, and at ev<jiry available opportunity he attacks j; him with voice and pon. Not long i?ineo , Bishop O'Dwyer -wroteua fitrorfg letter against Conscription m Ireland; which wad published m all the Irlah flatly papers, and m many of th© ; English papers with aevere comment . |- ; Now, the letter wcjja a serious one at such a time. as tho present, but it showed the fearlessness and honesty of |

the man. In Larry Ginnell'sconstitu- | eney, Co. Westmeath, there is Father j O'Reilly, P.P., who, with voice, pen and purse, helped on the Sinn Fein, mover ment_ and the Irish Volunteers. The latter body must not be confounded ' with the National Volunteers, which are Redmond's crowd, nor with the Ulster Volunteers, who follow Carson. The foolhardy Sinn Feiners and the 'adherents of the citizens' army (workers) have been called "slumdwellers," "a rabble," "the lowest scum," "dirty dogs," and "the mad minority,"/ Ah! me. Little they, know of the fine, clean young men, all temperance advocates, too, the intellectual lights, and the sterling Avorkmen, clerks, pressmen and school teachers, who make up these two kindred movements. All classes and- creeds are represented m j the Sinn Fein move- . mentj and workers of alt^ creeds were represented m the LARKIN-CONNOLLY CITIZENS* ,/'.;•.;; : ,;■.. ; -ARMY. . -.-■ ■ ,-. Religion never disturbed the tenor of these movements, while Redmond's National Volunteers are exclusively Catholic, and Carson's Ulster Volunteers are .exclusively Protestant- Any fair-minded ' person must admit that the riVal Redmond and Carson movements tend to. a religious war — a war more mad and destructive to Ireland than, the Sinn Fein Tevolt for liberty. Of the two Imperialists, Redmond is undoubtedly the most sincere ; to follow m Daniel. O'Connell's xootsteps . small wonder then that he has the clergy of Ireland behind him. It is hard to "estimate such ±, wrecker as Carson; he is a very clever, brainy, far-seeing lawyer with the tremendous forces of capitalism and the titJed privileged at his back. ." . The writer of the poetic lines that hoad this article, was John Keegan Casey. He sang of '9S, and he, himself took part m the revolt of '48. But why all these REVOLTS AGAINST ENGLISH RULE? It would seem that for every patriot that dies a thousand other patriots arise to carry on the endless struggle. Oh, why all these struggles? Do they not show that there is something radically wrong? People enjoying the freedom of these Antipodes prate about Home Rule as if it were a Godsent gift, when the base fact is that the paltry Home Rule measure signed by King George and retained, is f,ar inferior to the measure of freedom granted to Finland over 100 years ago by despotic Russia. And now m the twentieth century Ireland, depopulated and restless, is m as bad a state as she was at any time of her illstarred history. No honest man can deny It. The paid politicians of Ireland deny it, the British Government deny it, the majority of Irish churchmen deny it Why? £400 per year has made tho nationalist Ms.P. forget. H every worker of Dublin could only earn one-fourth that sum — £100 per year— he would eagerly work 12 hours a day, and be as loyal as John Redmond or his supporters. But there is not one worker living m the British - made Dublin slums earning £ 1 per week, which, by the way, is a finished teacher's wage m Ireland; while the 12,000 armed police (the constables) each receive from 25s to 30s a week, for merely standing guard over Ireland. We can understand why the authorities deny the real conditions that exist m Ireland, and indicate the the Land Act, the "retained" Homo Rule, and laborers' cottages. They could also indicate the workhouses, the ovei'-erowded asylums and gaols, tho emigrant ships, and the horrid awful slums that diPflguro every city, town land village. These latter social evils

are conditions that also exist m Scotland and England, and have given such a powerful impetus to the forces of Socialism m Dublin with the advent James Larkin from Kngland, and James Connolly from Scotland. Socialism took on like wild-fire m the cities and .'owns of Ireland, and T is destined to make considerable headway m that country despite the persistent opposition of the Church. Like the British Government, the Church has had its centuries of sway m Ireland, and '■, - WHILE DOING SPLENDID WORK for the morals, and spirituality of the Irish people, strange to 'say, it has completely overlooked their , bodily, housing, and general economic necessities. Hence we see splendid churches, parochial houses, convents and : government buildings amid hovels, and streets that could only be equalled m Some Oriental town. It is only fair to say, however, that the bishop m his palace and the parish priest m hi 3 parochial house are now pretty well> awake to the urgent needs of the hour. But the outstanding fact that the Catholic Church is a purely spiritual organisation, makes the priest m Ireland as much attached to Rome, as the priest .m New Zealand. This is as it should be, but it must be remembered that such an unswerving loyalty induces X - a peculiar outlook, viz., of seeing everything and everybody through Rome's eyes. Now, Rome is out after the conversion of proud Albion at all costs, and no body of clerics work harder m this direction than do the Irish bishops. With one or two exceptions they stand for British rule m Ireland without Home Rule, or at the very most through Home Rule, FOR CATHOLIC IRELAND MAY BE THE SAVING OF ENGLAND. Their hopes have already been realised m many respects and are being recognised. Hence, their attitude to every national venture and social movement is explicable As already : stated, however, tnere are two blsaops, , one of whom is Dr. O'Dwyer, of Limerick, and numerous young priests who "go the whole hog" m everything that appertains to the national and social I well-being of Ireland. Irish patriots who seek to raise up | the standard of a republic m Ireland t have no more chance of realising their ambition than of flying to the moon— unless they win over the priests to their j side, and barring this impossible task, i unless they secure the active co-opera-tion of the Socialist elements In Scotland and England, which, of course, may count for naught at th© crucial test Some writers claim that this latter means to an end is gradually developing^ for the republican spirit is abroad m England- Whether we ; like it or not, it is there, as anyone can find out who knows, anything of Wales, or the workers of the Clyde. The Irish revolt has been crushed — the actual name of the trouble, bear m mmd — but what of the NEW IRELAND IT HAS AWAKENED ? Not since the fall of the Bastile m the days of the Paris barricades, has anything occurred of such momentous might as that terrific, carefully-planned week, of terror m Dublin. It took awful threats, coupled with the actual effects of 6tnch guns, and smoke bombs, to make merely riflearmed workers capitulate. And then they only gave m to superior numbers and when their ammunition ran short No mercy was shown to the leaders— the cultured Paddy Pearse, strenuous Clark, and MacDonagh, the orator- — were promptly court-martialled by a body of officers against whom they had fought. They were shot. Rebellion must be punished; no one can sympathise with rebellion. But the Important fact that De Wet and others m South Africa, oath-bound to Britain, were not so treated enkindles strange cogitations. But, ! then, De Wet -was not fighting for those "dirty dogs," "the lowest strata," ( and neither/were Pearse, MacDonagh, Clark, Rahlely (O'Reilly), and the other Irish leaders, Boer rebels or Maori mis- i creants. Let us hope for all concerned that the Irish rebellion is stamped out. THE LEADERS. Very late m the fray it was discovered that Rahiely (O'Roilly) had been shot m the vicinity of the Post Office. Ifwas just as'well for him he met his fate there rather than In the barrack yard. ' He was one of the organisers and recruiting agents for the movement, and could raise his voice and wield his pen with marked effect. Every ono>of the lead, ers, including Jim Connolly, were educated men: sober, correct men of the world, who thought deeply, felt deeply, and whose only "falling" was that they loved their fellows and their country not too wisely but too well. Jim Connolly rescued theDublln working man from the toils of tho buug-shop, a mighty achievement, Indeed, m that city of cheap saloons of swarming breweries and distilleries. Have you noted that not one solitary charge of drunkenness or debauchery has been launched at the rebels. Every other rebellion In Ireland was marred with scenes of drunkenness, LOOT AND RUIN roark the Dublin upheaval — but these evils are necessarily incidental to all kinds of warfare, domestic as well as International. The 6in. guns of the army did moro havoc on the buildings along tho quays and In Sackville-street than the leaden pellets of the rebels. Leaden pellets do net sot buildings on fire or knock down walls and -roofs. High explosives do and ordinary shellflro. It wus high explosives that killed the rebels on the roofs of the Four Courts and elsewhere Hence, no doubt the Government will build up all that has been destroyed, spread on an equltftblo tax that will recoup tho £2,000,000 damage, and dig up that £80,000 pinched by the rebels. Where has that £30,000 gone? PATRICK H. PEARBE was one of those more Irish than tho Irish themselves. He was tr barrister and professor, but wna mainly 'known to Young Ireland an a successful Ice- j turor and the brilliant editor of the!

Gaelic League bi-Hngual organ, "Ari Claidcam SoluLs" (An Clavo Sollls— The bright sword or eword of light). This was an intellectual journal, and had nothing whatever to do with the Sinn Fein movement, which was directed quite openly by the "Sinn Fein," edited by Arthur Griffith. The writer of these notes just nlno years ago listened to Fearao lecturing on "Ireland." One remarkablo phase he then uttered, and which has lived., ever since m the writer's memory, was as follows: "Ireland,", said Pearse. "is not only the soil you tread on, and the hills and rivers about you, but is also the flowers, trees and birds you, see, tho very air you breathe, and the elty about you, And every cottage home In a mlnlaturo Ireland." He was then a YOUNG, CLEAN-SHAVEN, PARK- |. lIAIHED MAN, who spoko bvery sentence melodiously and precisely and whoao eyes impressed you ao powerfully that you never could forget them or their wearer. I Many a tlmo tho writer has thought I over Paddy Pcarse, the younjy Dublin ' lawyer and litterateur. He was a Rojinan Catholic and a product of tho Christian Brothers' schools. Juat a few ! months ago Poarse came Into . promt- | nonee 'even out m these sequestered ! latitudes by tbo speech ho uttered over [the grave of the dead ...Fen inn chief* i Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. It was the ; Sinn Fein era who burled Uoasa In Olasnevin, accorded his remains a military funeral, at which, according to tho "Freeman," 100,000 armed Irish volunteers attended. This occurred only a few months ago, and wa»- not such a spectacle sulfteient to warn any Government. Even tho upcoch uttcrod by Patrick H. Pearso as ho stepped forward In tiia uniform of n volunteer omeor to the head of the crave, rang with an unmistakable challenge. Hemarkublo were his words and prophetic Tho man who uttered thorn Hub been shot— shot by a military platoon In a barrack yard.