IRELAND AND THE WAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11686, 1 May 1916, Page 4

IRELAND AND THE WAR.

SIR EDWARD CARSON INTERVIEWED.

DOMESTIC DIFFERENCES MUST BE SET ASIDE.

LONDON, February 22. Outside tho actual fighting lines, tho most pioturesquo figure in this war-time-England undoubtedly is Sir Edward Carson, author and leader of the Ulster revolt. I talked with him at length in his quiet London home—talked until tho coming of his son, an officer on leave from a British submarine, interrupted us. "At present, while tho nation struggles against Germany, a truce must be observed between all parties in Irish affairs," ho said. "Wo must settle our domestic differences after the war, and seo how far the war may affect them. "The broader and deeper questions of the general European war "will hold us all enthralled until they have been settled, as they will be settled, with the cause of progress and humanity triumphant. " I am well aware that John Redmond is having his own difficulties with the extreme anti-English factions in Ireland, and I do not wish in the slightest way to embarrass him, in the slightest measure to add to his troubles, by emphasising the deplorable facts which have militated against recruiting in Ireland for the war. For them he is in no wise responsible. "So far as Ulster is concerned, Ulster men simply have put their whole hearts and souls into tho war, exactly as Englishmen have done. In Ulster we are allowing politics to take care of itself for the "present, subordinating everything to the paramount necessity of whining the war. THE ULSTER DIVISION. " Wo take a great pride in our Ulster division among the lighting force 3. It is purely Irish and is absolutely up to strength. We are proud, also, of our Ulster Hospital, which was organised on the outbreak of war. and was presented fully equipped and staffed to tho military authorities, and is being maintained' by private contributions. " Our reserves, which now aro in training, are good men to look at and will do fine work when they are sent into the fight. ! They are being trained well in advance, so that drafts from them, as need may arise, will be ready to keep up the.lrish character of the division. " We are proud of Irish fighting men and are anxious to keeo them at the front in full strength. It, is because we have that feeling that we so generally have regretted that the Government d'id no-fc see its way clear to include Ireland in the Compulsion Bill. # " The real Irishman never is afraid to fight, hut the real Irishman loves peace as well as any man, and the real Irishman is rare that Europe never will he free of turmoil or tho danger of another st'ruugle as terrible as that which now progresses, unless the victory of tho Allies is really complete. tl Loyal Ulst-ermen believe that it was an egregious mistake not to include Ireland in the Compulsion Bill. Even when the question of ultimate national unity is considered solely, the magnitude of the error remains unmistakable. There should have been no discrimination between England' and Ireland in the Bill. IRELAND WISHED TO SERVE. "The inclusion of Ireland would have demonstrated the sincere desire of those who have been our bitter opponents—those who were hittcrest m their condemnation of the Government's procedure in the management of Irish affairs—to he treated, as far as the war with Germany is concerned, in the same way, exactly, as that in which the citizens of Great BritainEngland, Scotland' and "Wales—were treated', when.the Empire called tor help against the common enemy. "There is another reason for our deep regret because Ireland was omitted from the provisions of the Compulsion Bill. It" seems to us that the record of that grave omission may remain a slur on Irish character in history for all time to come. "WTiat will the future think of Ireland when it reads between the covers of the hooks about this war that when tho Empire was in direst peril Ireland asked for treatment different from that accorded to tho balance ot "the British possessions? "We have as much to lose as England has through German victory. _ We value the ideals of freedom as highly as the English do. If the Nationalists had joined with us and we in Ireland had presented a. united front in a fixed determination to have the Comnulskm Bill applied to Ireland as well as to England, it, would have been the best possible demonstration to the extremists that their anti-English views in future will not find any place in Ireland, no matter what form of government under which Irish affairs aro administered. IRISH IN FAVOUR OF WAR. "I do not doubt that through nw joint efforts we might have shown, as, indeed, Mr Dillon alleged in the House of Commons, that an overwhelming majority of the purest Irish blood is in favour of the utter rout of the enemies of Great Britain. "The valour of the Irish troops who have gone out to the firing Hue has been in accordance, with the finest traditions of tho race, and that, it must

(By EDWARD .MARSHALL, in the "San Francisco Chronicle.")

be everywhere admitted, is high praise. Whatever may be our internal differences of opinion, there will he no denial of the fact that every section in Ireland is equally proud of Irish gallantry in action, 'whether it be that of the South or of the North.

" Nothing could have, been more appreciative of the gallant conduct of the TnVh heroes in the fio>l than the adoption, in relation to all Ireland, of exactly the same measures as were deemed necessary to adopt elsewhere in Britain for the support and re-enforcement of the brave men who volunteered, by ensuring the enlistment of their fellow-Irishmen to fill up the gaps in Irish ranks brought about, by the intrepidity of Irish valour among those who went without compulsion.

"No Irishman, whether he bo with the Government or against it, hesitates to recall with pride that Lord Roberts was an Irishman, or the glorious circumstance that Lord W T olselev was an Irishman, or that General Sir Hubert Gough was Trish.

"No Irishman, whether he be with the Government or against it. who is not boastful, or. at least reverently thoughtful, of the -<rlorv t ] w J e men have brought to Ireland. Thev did not banc; back, nor should anv other Irishmen be backward, or bo permitted to be backward, when a time of crisis in the, cause of human ireedoin comes.

IRELAND HAS SENT HEROES. "Tn tho present war. Ireland has not failed to send her heroes. There is Sergeant Michael O'Loary, who earned gallanty and now modestly is wearing the Victoria Cross, of whom'we are just as proud in Ulster as if be was an Ulsteiman, and there have been other Irishmen whose services must add lustre to the pages of cm- Irish history throughout all the years to come. "Tn addition the Victoria Cross has been conferred upon Serogant Somers of, the Inniskilling Fusiliers. Private Morrow of tho Royal Irish Fusiliers, Lieutenant Nelson of the Royal Horse Artillery, and Lieutenant Brook of the Gordon Highlanders.

"Nor does this complete the list to dato. The following decorations have also been conferred on Ulstermen. Thirty-eight distinguished service orders, forty-one military crosses and sixty distinguished conduct medals. " These are for services in tho army alone, and do not include naval decorations, of which I have no particulars at hand.

" Personally, T should like every Irishman who now is a freehold owner of his farm, in Ireland merely to reflect for one moment what chance he would have for the realisation of his ideals, what likelihood there would been or in the future could be of his rising to his present state of liberty if the Prussian Governmental methods had or should prevail in tho Green Island.

" I should like him to reflect upon the fact that his good fortune has been brought about through the assistance of tho financial credit of thev United Kingdom, and' by the aid of moneys actually advanced because of the solidity of the kingdom's reputation in the world for probity and for fair dealing.

HIGHEST POSITIONS OPEN. "I mention that, alone, among other benefits that have been conferred upon the Trish peasantry by the Government, which some of them so bitterly have assailed during the last forty years.

" And every position in the Army and the Navy, oven to the very highest, stands as fully open to the Irishman as to e the Englishman, or the Scotchman, or the Welshman. Irishmen, other than the shining lights whom I have mentioned, have won and have been granted highest honours. "One cannot but regret that under the present circumstances of world stress any actiion should be taken which in future will justify the leastastute in saying of the-Irish that during this war with the great- enemy of freedom, they desired to si/and aloof when it was deemed a necessary thing to pass legislation for the strengthening of Britain's forces for the sole and undeniable purpose of assuring to the cause of right the ultimate victory." MESSAGE TO AMERICA.

I asked Sir Edward if he had a. message to send overseas to the'lrish in America. "1 l.are indeed," said he. and now his pleasant brogue, for somo reason became rather more apparent than it had been. Clearly he thinks very highly of the Irish in America. " I hope they will take thought." he went on slowly, "of the. questions of this war as they should be considered. "To many of lis it seems to he an inexplicable thing that any classes of American Irishmen should fo>- a moment reel an impulse toward joining the German element, which has given so much trouble to the States _in operating, in a neutral icountry. against the cause of vhe Allies. PREJUDICES DEPLORED. "This unfortunate Irish-American sympathy for Great Britain's enemies undoubtedly is the outgrowth of old political and religious prejudices and.

to a large extent surely, is duo to ignorance of the Ireland to to-day. " Havo these nion of Irish birth or extraction in the- United States paused to reflect that, nowhere in this world is religious liberty more definite and complete than it is in modern Ireland?

" Have they taken thought that now in Ireland civil liberty is so complete that it sometimes amounts, I am afraid, almost to license? " What do they imagine, I am wondering, would he the result if Great Britain should he loser and her enemies should have the sav in governing Ireland?

'' And, besides, they must see, or they should see. that- opposition t<> Great Britain now among any people governmentally linked with her must proving the war. " Prolongation of the war can result in nothing hut, the depletion of the British Treasury through enormous debts, such as that which now are being piled on pile. '•"With oxery incronw of this debt the, day must ho deferred when the Imperial Parliament can vote those large sums for promotion of old Ireland's welfare now needed to complete the work which, during recent years, has changed the very face of Ireland for the better, putting smiles where- frowns were, replacing tears with pence, substituting education for ignorance, and comfort for a pitiful poverty, while in the matter of taxation, making Ireland England's debtor in the sum of many hundreds of thousands of poiuids sterling. " 1 wish you would tell these. Irishmen of the United States from me, Edward (■arson, that their brother Irishmen have died by hundreds of thousands in France and in Gallipoli, ngntmg, as free volunteers, in opposition to the curse of tyranny, and that if they by the slightest word or least significant deed' take aid or comfort to the common enemy, of Groat Britain and humanity, they thus will 'make themselves responsible for the deaths of others of their countrymen. THETR. OWN BATTLES.

i "Is it not true that Irishmen are great enough and noble enough, liavo ; pride and common sense enough to lot them realise that, it- is wisest and most honourable for them to fight out their ! domestic battles among themselves, upon a lofty plane, without comforting the international assassin of the high seas and of Belgium, of the Balkans and North France? "I woukl a- thousand' times rather shake hands and declare my friendship for the most bitter and extreme among my follow Irishmen, no matter how pronounced' their enmity for my beliefs and my ideals may have been/than to contaminate m'y fingers with one touch ; upon the hands of any one of those who have wrought such damning outrages against every tenet of "every ■worth-while creed' amongst the mass of all religions, as have marked the other side of this great war; I would rather he stricken dumb than to give one word of faint encouragement to them; I would rather burn my money than that a single farthing of it should l go as support to the two Powors who now are fighting against civilisation under the animating force of German ' kultur.' "Furthermore the Irishmen who have found homes in America, who have been happy there and free, who have had the advantage of American free- institutions, -who have profited themselves and through their children by American free education, should not need to be reminded that the pro-Ger-raau movement there is not only fashioned to destroy the cause of the Allies, but is inimical to the best interests of the United 1 States, the hospitable land of their adoption. Such action upon their part would be poor repayment for the welcome which the greaifc Republic gave thfcm,- " Good Irishmen, at home and in the States, niust be big enough of mind to see this struggle in its larger aspects. AMERICA TO BE UNSELFISH. " We, upon the eastern side of the Atlantic, who love our liberty, we who wish to profit by the progress which can come only when nations are at peaco and growing in those arts of peace which alone can mean development of the individual, look to America as tbe one great Power that, even if she stands aloof from the war, can put aside all selfish interests, and, viewing the future broadly, can take care that nothing shall be done which will hamper the efforts of the Allied nations to triumnh in this war. "The States will not be doing this for our sakes hut for their own sakes. " The Irish in the States, if they subscribe to this and to no other course, will not. thereby, primarily be aiding England, but will be aiding definitely their adopted land and insuring the prosperity and peace, security and hapDincss of ther new found homes beneath the flag which they profess to love and which, if they and all its beneficiaries properly protect, and unhappily not otherwise, may certainly continue as the ensign of Teal freedom, continuous and progressive peace, and the unfettered development of the individual."