Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 25 February 1915, Page 39

Irish News

GENERAL. -Second Lieutenant T. J. Coleman, son of Mr. Coleman, Kinsale, Co. Cork, has been gazetted to the Welsh Regiment at Tidworth through University College, Cork. ‘ Captain the Hon. Reginald Prittie, Royal Irish Rifles, second son of Lord Dunolly, H.M.L., Kilboy Castle, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, has been killed in action. But a few weeks ago he Vas decorated with the Legion of Honor by the French President for gallantry at the battle of the Marne. Lieutenant James F. O’Brien, Royal Munster Fusiliers, brother of Captain O’Brien, has also been killed. He was educated at Wimbledon and Sandhurst, whence he joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers in January, 1910. Both brothers were killed in the same skirmish. News has reached England of the heroic death in battle of Dr. J. O’Connell, attached to the Highland Light Infantry, son of Dr. D. Y. O’Connell, of Tipperary, and great-grandson of Daniel O’Connell. He was a native of Mumbles, Swansea, and had only been married a few days before leaving for active service. • The Rev. Edmond J. Fitz Maurice, D.D., Professor of Dogmatic Theology, Greek, and French, 'in St. Charles’s Seminary, Overbrook, U.S.A., has been appointed Chancellor of the archdiocese of Philadelphia, to succeed the Right Rev. Mgr. Charles F. Kavanagh. The Rev. Dr. Fitz Maurice was born in Tarbert, County Kerry, thirty-five years ago. Captain 11. C. IT. O’Brien, Royal Munster Fusiliers, who is reported as killed, was the eldest son of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry J. O’Brien, R.A.M.C., Queenstown, Co. Cork. He was educated at Belvedere, Clongowes, and Stonyhurst, and joined the army in 1900. He served in the South African War and with the Mohmand Field Force. He received his appointment as Captain in 1910. The French Republic has bestowed the decoration of the Legion of Honor on the undermentioned Irish officers with the approval of the King for their gallantry during operations with the Expeditionary Force between the 21st and 30th August: — Croix d’Officier: Lieut. - Col. (now temporary Brigadier-General) R. ,11. K. Butler, 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers : Croix de Chevalier: Capt. J. J. O’Keeffe, M.D., Royal Army Medical Corps. The death occurred on December 27, at his residence, street, Derry, of Mr. William Roddy, who for thirty years was editor of the Derrg .Journal. Commencing journalism in the sixties, he passed as a reporter through many scenes of turbulence and riot in Ulster. He succeeded to the editorship of the Deng Journal on the death of Mr. Thomas O’Flanagan, and his trenchant articles written in support of the twin causes of Irish faith and Irish nationality during the past quarter of a century aroused widespread attention and exerted considerable influence on the public opinion of the Northern Province in days when sore distress was felt in Donegal and other congested areas. In the course of a speech at Ballysimon, Alderman Joyce, M.P. for Limerick, referring to the war, said: What to day was England fighting for? She was fighting for small nationalities and against the greatest military Power in the world, and fighting successfully, thank God. The Irish' Party would be untrue to Ireland if their sympathies in this war were not with England and the gallant little Belgians. ' The policy the Party and its able leader had taken up in this war was a sound one. Mr. John Redmond, who was one of the greatest statesmen of the day and one of the greatest leaders of the day, knew exactly what he was doing ; he did it in the best interests of Ireland, and the Irish people appreciated him the more for it.

THE FLAG OF THE IRISH / BRIGADE. Mr. Redmond lias heard from his niece, who was one of the Irish Benedictine Community of Ypres, the famous Irish convent founded some 250 years ago (says

the Freeman’ s Journal). The community lived in the cellars until the convent and church were both - struck by shells. They then escaped on foot, and after strange adventures found their way to England, where they are the guests of the Benedictine Abbey at Oulton in Staffordshire. They were unable to take any of their property with them, except the flag of the Irish Brigade, which has been their cherished possession for so long, and which the Irish public will be rejoiced to hear they have saved. ' • ■ • “ ' ■■ DEATH OF GENERAL KELLY-KENNY. As we were informed by cable at the time General Sir Ihomas Kelly-Kenny died at Hove, Brighton, on December 26. Born in 1840, General Kelly-Kenny was the son of Mr. Michael Kelly, of Kilrush, County Clare, and he did not assume the name of Kenny until 1874. lie entered the Army as an ensign in the 2nd Foot, now the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment, and after acting as A.D.C. to the Governor of the Cape, he went to China and took part in the actions at Sinho and Tsingku and in storming the Taku Forts. Having attained the rank of Captain, he next took part in the expedition against King Theodore of Abyssinia. Mentioned in despatches by Lord Napier, the future general returned home and was appointed to the command of an Infantry Division at Aldershot. His next appointment was as Inspector-General of Auxiliary Forces and Recruiting, and he was acting in this capacity when war broke out in South Africa. The fighting had reached a critical stage before lie went out. General Kelly-Kenny remained in South Africa until 1901, and after acting as Adjutant-General of the Forces until 1904, he retired in 1907, having seen fifty years’ service. The funeral took place at Hove Cemetery, aftfer a Requiem Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart. The coffin was borne to the grave by eight sergeants of the Stir Battalion Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment from Worthing, of which General Kally-Kenny was colonel. A TRIBUTE TO THE MUNSTERS. A French artillery officer, Captain Leboeuf, who is at present at West Hampstead, recovering from wounds received at the Battle of the Yser, has given an.account of the mysterious disappearance of the Munster Fusiliers on the occasion of a desperate engagement during the retreat from Mons. The French officer’s narrative is in these terms : — ‘ In the retreat from Mons I was close to the Munster Fusiliers when they got cut up. , They had been falling back steadily, when orders came that they were to hold their ground to cover the retreat of the main army. The colonel in command simply nodded his head when he got the orders, and he passed them on to the men like as though he were giving orders to a waiter at a hotel. The men received the orders in the same unconcerned way and started to make trenches for themselves. While some were digging, others were-firing at the enemy. They could see the Germans closing in all around, and knew that there was no retreat. What they didn’t know was that a despatch rider with orders to continue the retreat, now that the main army was safe, had been shot down. They never showed the slightest sign of worry, but kept fighting on until they had exhausted their ammunition. For a time they managed to keep going with the remains of the pouches of the wounded, but soon that ceased, and then the end came. It was a glorious end, and the Germans were forced to pay a tribute to the fine fight the men had made.’ THE POSITION IN IRELAND. In a recent issue, the Chicago Citizen publishes a long and able letter from Mr. James Donnelly, Kilmore House, Blackwatertown, Co. Armagh, written in reply to a relative in America who asked for his opinion on the present political situation. Mr. Donnelly, who is an ex-County- President of the A.O.H. in Armagh, devotes several columns to a lucid explanation of the position taken up by Irish Nationalists. I Not only mv opinion,’ he writes, ‘but the opinion of all honest ?;■ . V CX r ' • . .

T * 1 ’ .. . ‘ * •* Irish Nationalists who have been supporters v of, the pledge-bound independent Irish Parliamentary - Party in tire past, with very, very rare exceptions, -is that Mr. Redmond’s achievements will shin© in the pages, of Irish' history as those of the greatest and the most successful leader that ever piloted the. barque of Irish Nationality.’ But Irish Nationalists are not mere ‘hero-worshippers’ or ‘one-man worshippers.’ Mr. Donnelly writes; 1 We only worship at the shrine, in politics, of Irish Nationality. Parnell was beloved by us, but as soon as Parnell’s leadership seemed detrimental to the interests of Irish Nationality we cast him from us, though with many pangs. Willidm O’Brien was, with us, almost an idol; but as soon as he started to sow the seeds of faction we also threw him overboard, though it grieved us. We would dispense with Mr. Redmond to-morrow, though to-day he is almost as dear to us as life, if we considered his leadership stood in the way of Irish nationality ; but we mean to stand by Redmond, and why—because he is doing his duty honestly and manfully, regardless of whom it may please either here or in America.’ As it happens that practically all the Nationalists of Ireland and 95 percent. of their brethren in America are whole-heartedly at one with the Irish people’s chosen and faithful leader, the question of ‘ dispensing ’ with him need not be discussed. We (Irish J e-ws) quote one more passage from the Armagh patriot’s trenchant letter: —‘ Cranks, faddists, and traitors to Ireland’s cause may try to belittle the Home Rule Act now on the Statute Book of this realm ; but the best political experts, both here and in America, pronounce it a good settlement of the international fight and a better Home Rule Act than ever Butt or Parnell dreamed of. If it were possible for those enemies of the Irish Parliamentary Party who, you know, have always been enemies of that Party, to succeed in returning to power as the Government of England the Unionists and thereby destroying our present charter of liberty, what have they in store for Ireland? “Physical force’’ has been tried again and again, and the fact is that the purest patriots Ireland ever possessed gave it up as a forlorn hope and in j augurated the present constitutional agitation. I am speaking of the pure-souled Michael Davitt, with Brennan, Sheridan, J. J. O’Kelly, J. F. X. O’Brien, and in fact, the whole bone and sinew of the grand league and pledge-bound, independent Irish Parliamentary Party.’ Facts and arguments thus cleverly marshalled and plainly stated will soon dispel any delusions that may prevail regarding the state of affairs in Ireland amongst our exiled fellow-countrymen.. THE CLANRICARDE ESTATE. The decision of the House of Lords on Lord Clanricarde’s appeal against the claim of the Congested Districts Board to acquire his estate has been warmly welcomed in Ireland. Lord Clanricarde is one of the men who increased the British Government’s difficulties in governing Ireland. His dealings with his tenants were such that they caused a fierce popular agitation, and Mr. Arthur Balfour could make no defence for them, though he placed the armed forces of the Crown at the disposal of the evictor. For defending the tenants leading politicians were again and again sent to gaol. The late Mr. John Roche, M.P., and Mr. P. J. McDermott, ex-M.P., were consigned to prison over a dozen times. The sufferings of the evicted, not a few of whom fell victims to the hardships they endured, aroused indignation throughout Ireland, but Lord Clanricarde did not alter his policy. He fought stubbornly for every relic of feudal power that remained to him, and now he finds himself mulcted in heavy expenses for resisting to the last the efforts of the Congested Districts Board to secure the estate by purchase for the relief -of congestion. The decision of the Lords in the case is of more than ordinary importance, for it widens the interpretation of the powers assigned to the Board, • and enables them to buy compulsorily the whole of an estate any portion of which, on examination, they consider suitable for the purpose for which they were appointed.