Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 7 December 1916, Page 41

Irish News

. GENERAL. The death has occurred at her residence, Killeen House, Ireland, of Miss Eleanor Kelly, sister of Mother Brigid, .of the Mercy Order, who for many years was Superioress of the convent of that Order in Loughrea. The late Miss'Kelly was also a sister of the gifted poetess ‘ Eva,’ of the Nation , who was Mrs. Kevin Izod O’Doherty, of Brisbane. . 0 The death took place in September at Cloughballymore, Kilcolgan, County Galway, in his 76th year of Lieutenant-Colonel L. Blake, late of the 3rd.Connaught Rangers, and Count of the Holy See. Born in 1842, he was the only surviving son of Mr. Maurice Blake, of Ballinafad, County Mayo, and was a J.P. for County Galway, and a J.P. and D.L. for County Mayo. The title of Count was conferred upon him by Pope Pius X. in 1905. He was an honorary member of the African Missions’ Society, and took an active part in the propagation of the faith in all parts of the world. His nephew, Colonel Maurice Moore, C. 8., is the distinguished soldier who served with honor in the South African wars.

THE CASE OF IRELAND. We trust, but confess that we feel in no degree confident or sanguine on the point, that some steps are being taken by our Parliamentary representatives to secure that Ireland will benefit, in some degree at all -.vC # 7 O events, by the recommendations of Lord Farringdon’s Committee (says the Irish Catholic). Just as in the case of the extravagant cost of every description of foodstuff, our members of Parliament have manifested a callous indifference to the growing pressure on the toiler and left him absolutely unassisted and unprotected, as if he belonged to an exterior nation. Nowhere can we see any evidence that effort is being made to secure for Ireland her fair and full share of the great flood of prosperity which is generally believed to be certain to follow the close of the present war. At any rate, it would be eminently desirable to learn to what extent the. trade interests of Ireland were represented on or before Lord Farringdon’s Committee. It is regrettable to be compelled to believe that on this, as on many another occasion, the commercial interests of Ireland have been treated by our members of Parliament as if they were non-existent. It is absurd to suppose that our people will be content to endure for ever such shameful disregard of their national wellbeing. We write as we do more for the purpose of obtaining information than for any other purpose. It is, however, full time that someone told the world exactly how the Irish Parliamentary Party is safeguarding the commercial and industrial concerns of the nation.

CARDINAL LOGUE’S APPEAL AND PROTEST. It is to be hoped that the renewed appeal from his Eminence Cardinal Logue for more priests to serve with the troops engaged in the war will evoke a full and worthy response (says the Irish Catholic). Generous and self-sacrificing as has already been the action of the-clergy of Ireland, we are confident that from their ranks will now come the full number of volunteers for which the Cardinal Primate of All Ireland asks. It will be observed that his Eminence is compelled to protest against what appears to be a grave piece of official mismanagement in the distribution of the Catholic military chaplains, many of whom are retained at the base and other hospitals when they should be much nearer the firing line or serving with special units engaged in active service at the front. It is to be hoped . that Sir Douglas Haig, the Army Council, or the authorities at the War Office, will recognise the wisdom of the Cardinal's suggestion, and see that there is a proper redistribution of the priests now serving with the troops, in order that their ministrations may be available where they are most needed.

. A REACTIONARY CHURCH. . Considering the history of the Irish Protestant Church, we cannot be surprised to read that Dr. Day, the Protestant Bishop of Clogher, refuses to support even the policy of Sir Edward Carson and his Ulster followers, and calls upon the Irish Unionists to. resist the concession of Home Rule to any. past of Ireland. The Irish Protestant Church (says the Catholic Times) has always been opposed to the wishes of the people. A foreign element, tracing its origin to Germany, it has never shown any appreciation of popular liberties. Its Bishops and ministers have, as a whole, been champions of every proposal designed to retard the country’s progress, and enemies of every movement calculated to benefit the people. They fought against the land legislation which Mr. Gladstone introduced. - Their influence has been almost invariably on the side of rack-renting and evicting landlords. Never have they aided the efforts of the Irish-workers to better their lot. It sufficed for them to know that they occupied comfortable positions themselves, and to t feel that they were faithful henchmen of the Unionist magnates whoso favor they courted. In working as a politician against Home Rule Dr. Day is but following a tradition of his; Church, which has never wavered in its hostility to the rights of the people, never supported a liberal, policy.

NOT ALLOWED TO VISIT IRELAND. The London Spectator is troubled at the views taken by Americans of British policy in Ireland, and suggests to the Government that means of obtaining information about the situation in the Green Isle should be provided for the people of the United States. The British Government has made it very clear to the American people by definite acts that it has no sympathy with the policy which the Spectator now advocates after four months’ consideration. Two wellknown gentlemen from New York came to arrange for the distribution of the relief provided for families impoverished through the rebellion by the committee of which Cardinal Farley is a leading member. They returned to announce that they would not be allowed to land in Ireland. According to the Chicago Daily J cars the Rev. James Horace Mar-key, of the Church of St. Philip Benizi in that city, has had a similar experience. Father Markey was on his way home from Rome, where he had been studying, and desired to pay a visit to relatives in Ireland before returning. He obtained in Rome a passport, which gave him permission to travel to England. In Paris he enquired at the British Embassy if he could also go to Ireland and was informed that he would not be permitted to do so. In London a permit for Ireland was refused at the Foreign and Home Offices and by the Chief Alien Officer. It is not surprising (says the. Catholic Times ) to learn that Father Markey on his return to Chicago indulged in ‘ considerable criticism of the English authorities.’ The Americans are quick to draw conclusions from such an incident. The Spectator may well question the wisdom of the Government.

THE IRISH IN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR. In the speech which he delivered in Liverpool the other evening to the very large audience which assembled at the Exchange Hotel, under the chairmanship of Alderman Austin Harford,. Mr. T. P. O’Connor, M.P., appropriately laid stress on the fact that not only have the Irish from Ireland proved by their valor and the great successes they have scored how deeply indebted the British nation is to them for the part they have played in the conflict, but that no community in Great Britain has contributed so high a proportion of its sons to the battlefield as the Irish. It is necessary to emphasise this truth (says the Catholic Times) because there are critics who, from whatever motives, endeavor to depreciate what the Irish have don© for the cause of the Allies. ’Father Vaughan, in his rousing address spoke of the war as a fight for freedom, justice” and true civilisation against the barbarism of which non-combatants —men, women, and children in y the

industrial : centres.-, and ;. the Northern _• Midlands - were treated to examples that night and the following morning- : No section of the population; of Great Britain has • ■C I A " . 1 . *• •• . . felt more,: strongly than the Irishr the necessity of stern resistance to what Mr. O’Connor justly called.the truly infernal German gospel of war. Bear need not be entertained regarding the readiness of the Irish of Liverpool to keep the Liverpool Battalion—the Bth Irishup to its full strength, and .Mr. O’Connor was but expressing their common conviction when he asserted, they have a perfect right to insist that it shall retain its distinctive Irish character.

IRELAND AND CONSCRIPTION.

In a leading article on the question of conscription for Ireland, the efforts for which it denounces as ‘ a mere piece of Die-hard intrigue,’ the Freeman’s Journal says: —‘ The question is not only political, it is economic. The Sangrado policy of the evictor and the emigration stimulator cannot be followed by the further bleeding policy of conscription. The country refuses, in Bismarck’s phrase, to bo bled white. The talk about the desertion of the Irish regiments is false. If there are not sufficient Irish reserves now it is because the Irish reserves have been used up in English and Scottish regiments. The three Irish divisions could have been renewed three times over out of the Irishmen recruited upon Irish soil alone, not to mention the Irishmen who have been fighting as Northumberland Fusiliers, Lancashiremen, London Territorials, and ‘’Highlanders, Canadians, Anzacs, and South Africans. Of Irishmen born upon the soil of Ireland we are quite certain nearly half a million have enlisted for this war if we reckon those enlisted in Great Britain and the Dominions. . . . Ireland, notwithstanding what Lord Dunraveu asserts, has done its duty in the war. To use Lord Kitchener’s word, it has done ‘‘magnificently. It would have done even more magnificently but for the Coalition and the War Office, the Coalition that raided the Irish Executive and reduced recruiting from two thousand a week to four hundred, and the War Office underlings that acted as if they had the deliberate purpose of destroying the effect of Mr. Redmond’s appeal. As for conscription, it is out of the question. he first condition for such a measure does not exist. The Prime Minister has laid it down that “any measure of compulsory service would be impossible without something approaching to general assent.” If there were a general election in Ireland to-morrow on the application of the Military Service Acts to Ireland there would be about 90 per cent, of the electors, - Unionist as well as Nationalist, against the measure. Those who are clamoring "for conscription know that well. But it does not still the outcry for their pur-" pose is further confusion in Ireland, not any addition to the strength of the armies. They dare not conscript Canada against its will. South Africa cannot be touched. The measure, though the politicians want it, cannot be introduced into Australia without the endorsement of the whole people. But we are threatened that English public opinion, supported by the indignant public opinion of France,” will apply conscription to Ireland. The Irish soldiers who have been to France know well what “the indignant public opinion of France” is concerned about in the case of Ireland. It is not about conscription, but about misgovernment, bad faith, and military executions. Those who threaten thus know what the result would be if any attempt were made to enforce conscription. It would be quite .impossible to administer the in Ireland.’