Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 17 December 1914, Page 39

Irish News

! GENERAL. Mr. J.-E. -Redmond, M.P., has forwarded to Right Rev. Mgr. Ryan and Mr. : M. Governey, trustees. National Volunteers, a cheque for £5043 15s Bd, the amount of subscriptions received by him in reply to his private appeal for assistance to arm and equip the National Volunteers. ; . .

The Catholic Senators, Governors, and the students of University College, Dublin, began their year on Sunday, October 25, by attending Solemn High Mass in State. His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, who is the Chancellor of the University, presided, and the Archbishop of Cashel preached. . Newman’s beautiful church was filled by a congregation that would have gladdened the heart of its founder. -

The War Office has intimated its refusal to sanction the presentation of colors to the battalions of the new Irish Army. General Parsons, commanding the hew army, who appealed to Irish • ladies to present colors, explains that the appeal was nobly responded to, but he has been informed by the Secretary of the War Office that it has been decided that the presentation of colors cannot be sanctioned. : THE MUNSTER FUSILIERS. The explanation of the cause why six hundred and seventy-eight of the Munster Fusiliers are ‘ missing ’ only adds to the glory of their military record, so well sustained at the beginning of the war, when they distinguished themselves by rescuing the guns under a terrible fire (says the Catholic Times). When the order for retiring from Mons had been given and it failed to reach them through the shooting of the despatchrider by the Germans, they fought on bravely until overwhelmed by the numbers against them. Only then, on seeing that there was no hope of a single one escaping if they persisted in fighting, did they surrender. In covering the retreat of the French and British armies they rendered splendid service, giving many proofs of the courage and dash for which their reputation is so high. A letter which has been received from a member of the regiment indicates that some of them are prisoners in Germany, but it is to be feared that their losses have been heavy. Of the nineteen officers who are ‘ missing ’ no less than nine were killed and five were wounded. Such being the proportion of casualties amongst those in command of the regiment, it may be safely assumed that the men of the rank and file—the vast majority of them Catholics—displayed in the conflict their customary disregard of death. LORD KITCHENER AND GENERAL RICHARDSON. The War Office has entrusted the command of the Ulster Division to General Richardson, and the Daily News, having called attention to the speech this gentleman delivered at a recruiting meeting of the Ulster Volunteers, says: ‘ What action does Lord Kitchener propose to take in regard to the atrocious claim that the Army and Navy have been, and are to be, the instrument of Ulster in regard to its political aims in Ireland If this thing is not dealt with at once and severely, it will, amongst other things, be disastrous to recruiting in Nationalist Ireland.’ It is well known that the tolerance which has been extended to the Carsonites has aroused amongst the Nationalists the feeling that though the Government is professedly Liberal and fair-dealing,, the old ascendancy spirit is as rampant as ever. In "the worst days of Tory coercion the Ulster Unionists did not enjoy more latitude in regard to exhibitions of contempt for .the law than they have availed of during the time the present Government have been in power. General Richardson’s latest utterance is but one of many" indications from which it may 1 be inferred that the followers .of Sir Edward Carson think themselves entitled to receive partial treatment from

the v Government, and even to set the Government and the law at defiance according to their wishes or caprices. There is not a single Nationalist who is not ■ convinced that if he claimed equal latitude he would soon be within prison walls.

IRELAND’S CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY. . Despite wars and rumors of wars Catholic activities continue to form a large part of Irish life (says the Sacred Heart Review). One of the most interesting, events of recent happenings was the annual conference of the Irish Catholic Truth Society in the Round Room of the Scansion House, Dublin. An English prelate, the Right Rev. Dr. Keating, Bishop of Nottingham, addressed the gathering. He dealt with the great changes likely to come over the nations of the world as a result of the present war, and concluded with the following words : ‘ And when I reflect not only on your numbers but on the natural and supernatural gifts of the Irish people, when I see your sons achieving distinction in every career open to talent, when I reckon the wealth of resources laid up in this island, now, as always, a storehouse of Catholic energy, can you wonder that I am eager to tap those resources for the benefit of the English-speaking world ? Can you wonder that I dream dreams of an early future, when the Catholics of Ireland and Scotland will habitually take counsel and common action wifli us, your brethren in England and Wales, to organise congresses, to form associations, to provide literature, to send out lecturers to maintain worthily a Catholic press, and thus to arrive at a general Catholic policy which will enable us to shepherd our own, and to secure for those without a fair hearing for Catholic Truth?’ IRELAND AND THE ARMY. It is only too evident (says the Liverpool Catholic Times) that the antagonism to the Irish national movement which succeeded in placing the Home Rule Bill on the Statute Book is still active. Rightly or wrongly, the suspicion that the War Office atmosphere is not unfavorable to it prevails in Nationalist circles and has been strengthened by the news of the refusal to sanction the presentation of colors to the battalions of the new Irish Army. . It is certain that the attempts mad© to disparage the Nationalist representation in the army are as unjust as they are mischievous. In the address which he delivered on Sunday at the Clonard Picture House, Belfast, Mr. John Redmond gave figures from which it is clear that Ireland is playing, an important part in this conflict, as she has done in other great wars in which the Empire has been engaged. He had, he said, been getting figures recently from all parts of Ireland, and had found that, in addition to the reservists who had gone from the ranks of the Volunteers in thousands to the front, some thirty-five thousand recruits had flocked to the colors within the last two months from all parts of Ireland, and from the Catholic and Nationalist parts of Ulster just as much as from the other parts. Moreover, when the war began there were in the army between thirty and forty thousand Irishmen, a number larger in proportion to the population and its character than was supplied by England, Scotland, or Wales, These sterling facts should silence once and for all those who are uttering reproaches against Ireland.