Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 3 August 1916, Page 35

Irish News

GENERAL. A Dublin Jesuit, Rev. H. V. Gill, S.J., who is now acting as an Array chaplain, has been awarded the Military Cross. Sir Walter Nugent, Bart., M.P., a member of the Irish Party, was married in London recently, the bride being a Miss O’Malley, of Ross, Westport. Three missionary Fathers of the Redemptorist Order— Fathers T. Murphy, P. Devine, and Raymund Cleereleft Clonard Monastery, Belfast, recently for the Philippine Islands. The death is announced of the Very Rev. Canon Patrick Delaney, D.D., parish priest of Carrick-on-Suir. lie had spent 62 years in the ministry. The Dublin Evening Telegraph has announced its suspension of publication for the present owing to the limitation of its temporary accommodation consequent on the destruction of its premises and plant. A White Paper shows that the number of emigrants who left Ireland during 1915 was the lowest recorded since the collection of emigration returns. The total was 10,792 —6671 males and 4121 females. Mr. John P. Hayden, M.P., has accepted the invitation of Mr. T. W. Russell, M.P., Vice-President of the Irish Department of Agriculture, to become a member of the Board of Agriculture in succession to Sir Jocelyn Gore-Booth resigned. Mr. Asquith, in .his speech at Ladybank the other day, made a feeling reference to Irish troubles. Ireland, he said, is contributing nobly and of her best blood to our armies in the field. No regiments had distinguished themselves more than the Irish regiments. All Britons wished for a successful issue of Mr. Lloyd George’s negotiations. The history of Great Britain’s relations towards Ireland abounded in missed or misused opportunities. Let us not add another to their number. THE SKEFFINGTON MURDER. London Truth writing of the Sheehy Skeffington case, says the murder ‘ certainly did not excite less horror in this country than in Ireland,’ and hopes ‘ that all well-disposed Irishmen will recognise the true character of the act and accept the finding of the courtmartial as the only conclusion posssible.’ It adds: ‘I take it that Mrs. Skeffington will be provided for by the Government, as well as any relatives dependent upon the other murdered men.’ Discussing the blind obedience of the military to a crazy officer. Truth says that Colthurst’s subordinates ‘ must have been nearly as mad as their captain jf they did not see that he was bent on cold-blooded murder, and that their duty was to stop him, even at some risk to themselves. If he had ordered the firing party to shoot one another or to shoot him, would they have done it? It almost looks like it.’ Quite true. Truth asks for an instruction to troops, ‘ explaining that military discipline does not require them to commit crimes at word of command.’ A CONSERVATIVE’S ADVICE. , Though he has not been made a Lieutenant-General nor even Chief Secretary for Ireland, despite announcements in one or two newspapers. Sir Mark Sykes gave some useful advice regarding the Irish situation in his address to a meeting of the citizens of Hull at the Royal Institution (remarks the Catholic Times). His gaze was fixed on the future rather than the past. What Ireland has done and is doing for the cause of the Allies was rapidly reviewed and contrasted with the slight dimensions of the revolt, and then the speaker turned to the Irishmen of the North and the South and appealed to them to enter into friendly relations with one another. ‘ Now was the time to thwart the German staff; now was the time for Irishmen to settle with Irishmen with justice and good fellowship.’ He reminded the Northerners that they have been wont to

boast of their devotion to the British Crown; the greatest service they could render to this country was to come to a settlement now with their fellow-country-men. This is a true statesmanlike attitude. There are politicians who seem to imagine that they are serving this country when they recommend harsh usage for Ireland and Irishmen. There could not be a greater mistake. Any policy that promotes the happiness and welfare of Ireland is of advantage to Great Britain. THE TROUBLE IN KERRY. At the second day’s sitting in Ireland of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the recent outbreak, County-Inspector Hill (Kerry) gave evidence as to the progress of" the Sinn Fein movement in his district. He said the Sinn Feiners first came into prominence in Kerry in October, 1914, after Mr. John Redmond had announced the" decision of the Nationalist Party to support England in the war. The growth of the movement in County Kerry he attributed to the activity of the organiser, Ernest Blythe, who was arrested, as was also a man named Cotton. Witness mentioned the activities of Organisers Blythe, Partridge, and P. H. Pearse from this period on to the month of April. Out of a population of 165,000 only 1000 were Sinn Feiners. In reply to further questions, witness said that Blythe described himself as a journalist. Blythe and Cotton, the organisers in Kerry, were both from the North of. Ireland, and were both Methodists. They were not South of Ireland men. SIR HORACE PLUNKETT’S VIEWS. Sir Horace Plunkett has written an outspoken letter begging Ministers not to imperil their existence by attempting to impose upon Ireland a settlement she does not want and will not accept. He says: ‘ Because Sir E. Carson and Mr. Redmond have endorsed Mr. Lloyd George’s scheme the British public believes' that opposition to it is confined to rebels, who want a republic and myopic Unionists who will not see that Home Rule is the law of the land. The real opposition to the scheme comes from the great body of moderate Irish opinion, which accepts the Home Rule principle, but considers that its application at the present juncture mischievous and inopportune. At any open, unfettered convention of the four provinces, Mr. Lloyd George’s proposals would be simply howled down. His scheme has merits. The idea of calling in statesmen from selfgoverning Dominions after the war to aid him in shaping a permanent policy for Ireland is a valuable inspiration, but the rest of the scheme, including the premature and unnatural partition of the country and the establishment of an Irish Parliament without consulting the Irish electorate hopelessly damns it. The Government’s scheme will not get Ireland out of the way; and on the contrary, the scheme would play directly into the hands of the most violent section of the Sinn Fein group. The situation demands a provisional wholly-Irish system of administration, formed to carry on the Irish Government for the duration of the war without prejudice to the solution of the major problem, which may be found possible hereafter. Such an administration must rest upon the postulates that Home Rule is inevitable and at least as much as is now conceded must be absolutely guaranteed to the Nationalists ; secondly, that Ulster must not and cannot be coerced. THE LARNE GUN-RUNNING. . Captain Harrel, Commander Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on the Staff of the Vice-Admiral Commanding the Coast of Ireland, and formerly AssistantCommissioner D.M.8,, attributed the outbreak in Ireland to seyeral causes. After enumerating some of these, the witness went on to say that at the time the Irish National VolTfnteers were formed, in November, 1913, the Ulster movement had been in operation for some time. He and those with whom he was associated were on the look-out to prevent the importation of arms that might be going to Ulster, and one large

seizure of arms took place there in Dublin that they found in a furniture van coming through. They were confiscated.. Sir M. Chalmers —To whom were they going ? I think they were addressed to Lord Parnham, but no claim was ever made as regards the consignment at all. Continuing, Capt. Harrel said after the proclamation on December 4, 1913, they were still further endeavoring to prevent the introduction of arms. No definite instructions were ever issued by the Government as to what they were to do. Nothing had been done to take action in Ulster. The Ulster gun-run-ning was surreptitious, and carried out at night without any conflict and with some apparent wish to recognise that a proclamation existed making the matter illegal. When the gun-running occurred in the North he was perhaps the first responsible official who heard of it at a very early hour on the morning it took place. The news came through by private wirepin connection with the coastguard. He was not quite sure whether it was genuine, but later on he found it was. He reported the matter to the Under Secretary by telephone, and he subsequently saw him when he came to fhe Castle later on. He told him what he had heard about it, and he then understood from him that he took a very serious view, and that the Government took a very serious view, and that was confirmed by several interviews he had with him subsequently. He gathered that there was serious consideration being given to it, and that such an occurrence would not be permitted to take place again. Personally, he thought that legal proceedings should have been taken in connection with the w matter. After quoting Mr. Redmond’s speech in Parliament on the subject, Captain Harrel said one of the results of the failure to take any proceedings had been that the opinion was generally held throughout Ireland that the police and the authorities connived at the Larne gun-running, and that was, to some extent, one of the reasons for the resentment which followed his taking any action at Howth.