DE VALERA ON THE IRISH PARTY

New Zealand Tablet, 11 July 1918, Page 22

DE VALERA ON THE IRISH PARTY

Speaking at Mooncoin, Co. Kilkenny, recently, Mr. De Valera said: "The fact was that England had involved herself in the meshes of her own hypocrisy in posing as the champion of small nations, and at the present moment was a source of considerable embarrassment to both America and France owing to her attitude as regards Ireland. It was the Irish Party that was at present helping England out of the difficulties into which she had landed herself, and the object of Sinn Fein was to keep her in that difficulty, and to show to the world that while she professed sentiments on her lips about the freedom of small nations she still harbored black treachery in her heart towards Ireland. "Did the Irish Party," he asked, "deny that that nation had a legitimate right to independence, and that it was only attainment of that right which would completely satisfy the aspirations of the Irish people? That was," he maintained, "the aim of all true Nationalists, and was the very meaning of the term national. Not a Domestic Question. "If they allowed England to make it appear to the world that they were satisfied to remain with the British Empire, and that this was simply a domestic question between Ireland and England," then England could say, 'We are at war for "the rights of small nations. This is no international issue. This question of Ireland is a domestic one, and does not come in under this heading.' "If they were to follow the teachings of the Irish Party the question of Ireland would not be considered at all internationally, for that party stood really for Ireland a province, while inducing their followers in Ireland to vote for them by proclaiming that they stood for Ireland a nation. They in Ireland were, unfortunately, a very gullible people, and John Bull was able, as the late Bishop of Limerick had said, to lead them on and on by the sniff of a carrot to the nose of the Irish donkey. They were now going to'get a sniff of another carrot, and he warned the Irish people to learn from past experience and not to be misled by this latest attempt to deceive them. Irish Party's Hopelessness. "They should not trust England or English negotiations, and they should not forget the thanksgiving processions for Home Rule on the Statute Book. "The Irish Party claimed that their party was a constructive one. What exactly could they construct ? They could only bey for favors in the English House of Commons, where they were outvoted by 5 to ]. That was Sinn Fein's charge against the Irish Party, that it was not constructive : and it purposed replacing that party by a body which would organise the Irish nation for constructive work, when the Irish people were sufficiently organised behind Sinn Fein, and had got rid of distracting political contests."