The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1914. IRELAND AND THE WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 10 December 1914, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1914. IRELAND AND THE WAR

fCCORDING to the cables, a number of Sinn Fein papers in Dublin have been suppressed by order of the military authorities, and we are further informed, also, that the police raided the Irish Freeman’s offices in Dublin and seized all the copies of the paper.’ The reference to the Dublin Freeman—which has been a strong and wholenear advocate of recruiting in Ireland—is manifestly an error, and the statement is probably intended to apply to the Leader or to the Independent. It is hardly necessary to point out that the Sinn Fein papers referred to are utterly repudiated and reprobated by the Nationahst Party. Mr. John Redmond, in a speech in the House of Commons, denounced them in scathing and contemptuous terms, already quoted in our columns the Rational Volunteer , the recently established official organ of the National Volunteers, in its issue of October 24 describes them as a number of small weekly journals in Dublin who have been endeavouring to poison the minds of a section of the youth of the country against the National Party and its leader.' Elsewhere in the same issue it denounces these publications as ‘ a factory for lies,’ and their promoters as ‘a hornet’s nest of cranks and intriguers.’ According to the same authority, they are not likely to have any serious influence in Ireland. ‘ The Irishmen of to-day, whether they belong to the old guard who have seen the marvellous revolution effected by the Constitutional movement since the dark 'days when Parnell and Davitt took off their coats to the task of freeing Ireland, or to that newer generation who are already enjoying some of the fruits of the Irish Party’s labors, are not to be captured by the lying inventions of a little knot of mischiefmakers. At home the falsehoods can be easily detected. The factionist stratagems are too thin; the devices too transparent.’ * If we can judge by the statements made in the National Volunteers’ organ, these wreckers— as they may well be called —are certainly prepared to go to extraordinary lengths. The National Volunteer , in its issue of October 24, gives a glaring example. For the past quarter of a century there has been no more honored name in the Irish Home Rule movement than that of the great Bishop of Raphoe, Dr. O’Donnell. Regarding this distinguished prelate the official organ of that small section of the Volunteers represented by the papers referred to, in its issue of October 17, published the following statement: — • ‘NOT OUR WAR. . ‘MOST REV. DR. O’DONNELL, O.F.M. (sic). ‘The patriotic Bishop of Raphoe, Dr. O’Donnell, in an address, says:

‘ “This is not our war. Ireland is in no way in this struggle. The Volunteers must remain under Irish control and be used for the purpose for which they were started, , the preservation of Ireland for the Irish. No Irish leader has a right to pledge the support of Ireland to England against Germany or any other nation. The day is gone by when the Irish can be dragged along and tied at the chariot-wheel of war-makers.’’ Bishop O’Donnell has long been treasurer of the Irish Parliamentary fund.’ This statement was reproduced, no doubt in all good faith, by the New York Freeman’s Journal of September 26, which printed it in large type under the heading ‘ Great Irish Bishop Takes His Stand.’ The fabrication, for such it apparently is, was brought under the notice of the Bishop of Raphoe, who at once cabled as follows to the New York Freeman’ Journal : —‘The statement which your issue of the 26th September attributes to me is a concoction from beginning to end; not one syllabi© of it is mine. I work now as hitherto with the Irish leaders in their difficult task.’ A movement which employs such tactics as these stands at once discredited, and in the long run is bound to fail. That it is failing already, even in America where money has been plentifully spent in its behalf, is clearly indicated by a statement recently made by Mr. T. P. O’Connor to a representative of the Catholic Times and recorded in its issue of October 23. ‘ I received only a day or two ago,’ said Mr. O’Connor, ‘ a wonderful account from America of the strong sympathy that Irish opinion has gained for England this last two months in America. German sophistry and German lies—not to speak of German money —have been made plentiful use of in the United States to capture Irish and American sympathy for Germany in the present war. This attempt to capture American sympathy has been killed in the States mainly by the democratic spirit and the intelligence of the American people, but the power of Irish and public opinion has helped, and, save in a few newspapers of Teutonic bias, the American press has stood solidly for the cause of the Allies-’ The fact that Mr. Patrick Egan, the veteran Nationalist, friend and colleague of the late Mr. Patrick Ford, has severed his connection with the Irish World as a protest against that paper’s hostile attitude towards the recognised leaders of National Ireland is a significant indication of the trend of influential Irish opinion in the great Republic. * All the reports to hand go to show that Mr. Redmond is strongly and successfully encouraging recruiting for the three Irish brigades which are in process of formation. There has, it is true, been a slight hitch, but it is in no way due to the influence of the small body of malcontents in Ireland. The trouble has come from: an altogether different quarter. Mr. Redmond’s project for the establishment of an Irish Division, which; was publicly sanctioned by the Prime Minister, has, according to a special correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, received positive and unmistakable discouragement at the War Office. He asserts that the War Office has refused sanction for the new Division asked for by the Nationalist Leader. ‘ More than that,’ he says, ‘ it is believed in apparently well-informed quarters that every sort of obstacle, specious and obstructive, has been put in the way of the idea by the War Office.’ The correspondent asserts that the motive for this despicable action is suspected to be political. The old Conservative influences, it is said, have been again at work. ‘ If Sir Edward Carson can get an army trained for him, and be given credit for it, and Mr. Redmond gets no army trained for him and has none put to his credit, when the war is over Sir Edward will be master of the situation both in a military and a.moral sense, and the “Ulster difficulty” will have been kept in all its effectiveness for use in the political game of which Mr. Bonar Law, Lord Londonderry, and the brothers Cecil, with Sir Edward Carson as their instrument, are the .figure-heads, but by no means the inspirers or the brain-carriers.’ As a result of this; policy, the rush of young Irishmen to join the colors ■ slackened perceptibly; and * when the facts of the case become gener-

ally known, says the Irish Meekly, it is not unlikely that Irish recruiting will be wholly suspended until the Tory gentlemen at Whitehall have been brought to their senses. It is possible that by this time that desirable consummation has been accomplished. Meanwhile Mr. Redmond has made his :; attitude, and the attitude of Nationalist Ireland, perfectly clear. A little body of men,’ he said, yx a speech at Kilkenny on October 18, ‘who, if you look back on the last. 20 or 30 years, have done absolutely nothing to gain our free Constitution, whose names you won’t find in the Nationalist movement of the last twenty years’ hunt in the history of that movement how you will-a' little body, who have never been known there, who have been working the movement as cranks and mischief makers, lurking in. dark corners to endeavour to stab us and trip us up in our work—a small body of these men are saying to the Irish people— ‘ Oh, it is true England has passed Home Rule and given it to you, but you have got a' chance now of doing her an ill turn, and of having it out with her for, some of the wrongs committed on your fathers two or three hundred years ago. Never mind your promises, never mind your treaty, tear up the pledges .and refuse to stand by the words of your leaders and their colleagues.” Well, of course, the Irish people will do nothing of. the kind.,.’