THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND HOME RULE

New Zealand Tablet, 10 August 1916, Page 19

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND HOME RULE

The following letter from the Very Rev: Dean Power appeared in the Taranaki Daily News of July 29: 'The Treaty Broken, Ere The Ink Wherewith 'Twas Writ Could Dry.' Sir, —The tone of your leading article on the failure of the Home Rule negotiations is sympathetic and admirable, but there are some phrases in it that, no doubt unwittingly, seem to throw the odium upon Mr. Redmond and the Irish party. For obvious reasons, it is very difficult for us in New Zealand, particularly now, to get a fair grasp of the position. Let me state it as I have grasped it from a careful study of the cables and of Irish and English papers during the past two years: ' (I.) In 1914 an Act was placed upon the Statute Book, signed by the King, giving Home Rule to undivided Ireland, to come into operation after the war. An amending Bill was promised dealing with certain counties in Ulster.' Now, on the strength of this King-signed treaty, Mr. Redmond and the Nationalist Party formed themselves into a band of recruiting sergeants, and canvassed the country, with what admirable result the whole world knows. However, a number of influential men throughout the country felt and declared that Mr. Redmond had made a serious tactical blunder— before undertaking the task he should have insisted upon the Home Rule Act coming into active operation; that England was not to be trusted, and that she would break her plighted word with Ireland as she had so often done before. That these were right was made abundantly clear after the formation of the Coalition Cabinet, by the statements of the Tory leaders in the Parliament and in the press. Sign after sign of this intended perfidy was given day after day, culminating in the appointment as Irish Attorney-General r f Campbell, a notoriously violent Orangeman. On the morrow of this appointment the rebellion broke out, hav ; ng as its chief result the opening of the eyes of the whole world to the fact that Dublin Castle rule was no longer to be tolerated; that it was capable of producing, &« it had been producing for upwards of a century, misery, starvation, discontent, and rebellion. Then Lloyd George, appointed by the Cabinet, suggested to Redmond and Carson, and through these to the whole of Ireland, a compromise which, whatever else may be thought of it, was a tearing up of the scrap of paper—a deliberate repudiation of the treaty of 1914, bearing the King's signature. The terms now suggested were (see Freeman's Journal, June 17) : ' (II.) That Home Rule should be immediately put into active operation for the major part of Ireland, but that the certain counties of Ulster, included for the

time being in the King-signed treaty, should be for the time being excluded.' Redmond and Carson, despite the solemn warning of leaders of thought in and out of Ireland, accepted this compromise, which meant the death of the Irish nation. They overlooked the sad history of Poland's partition, they forgot s the wound that has never healed and from which the present war has sprung—the tearing of Alsace and Lorraine from the bosom of France—they forgot the law of nature and the essential things of nationhood, and fell down like blind idolaters before the shrine of Peace-at-any-price. Redmond and Carson signed the suicidal treaty of June, but only to be doubly humiliated for their weakness. '(III.) The Bill brought down by Mr. Asquith would give Home Rule to the major part of Ireland, but would leave the certain Ulster counties permanently Read my statements in (I.), (II.), and (III.) and tell me, do you wonder that I have headed this letter with the line of Davis on the violated Treaty of Limerick, or that 'Remember Limerick!' was the battlecry of the Irish Brigade at Fontenoy ? Dr. O'Dwyer, the ablest bishop in Ireland, and Horace Plunkett the ablest layman, having secret information of the Cabinet's intention, wrote the letters that were cabled to us this week, with the result that the Irish Party' spurned the treacherous offer. You, Sir, seem to think that because of the war (everything ' nowadays seems to be because of the war), Asquith and Lloyd George should not think of resigning. My Thoughts run otherwise. Every honorable man and every honorable nation should welcome death before dishonor.—l am, etc., P. J. Power.