THE IRISH REPUBLIC

New Zealand Tablet, 16 October 1919, Page 23

THE IRISH REPUBLIC

AN ELOQUENT PLEA BY THE ARCHBISHOP OF SAN FRANCISCO. - [Archbishop Edward J. Hanna made an eloquent plea lor the freedom and independence of Ireland in his address to the great crowd which gathered in St. Clary’s Church, P. Ol to . the first session of the National Convention of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He recited, too, the debt America owes to Ireland, and assured the great crowd that the people of the United States are, in the great majority, in sympathy with the aspirations of the Irish Republicans.] 10-day there can be no gathering of the children of the Gael that is not fraught with interest. To-day there can be no gathering of the children of the Gael which does not touch every man who believes in the spirit of the new era, who admires an ordered freedom, who lias confidence in power. That Ireland has suffered injuries the world knows to-day as it never knew before, and the story of Britain’s rule in Ireland is written daily, in letters of fire, on the pages of the great journals of every land. It is a story of persecution for conscience sake, a story of heartless cruelty, a story of violence and plunder, a story of avarice and greed, a story of blundering stupidity and misgovern ment, a story of an alliance kept up by force of arms, a story of muon without constitutional right or law, a story of a struggle for autonomy which, when finally obtained, was rendered null by craven fear of a petty minority; in a word, a story of an attempt to annihilate an immortal spirit of liberty and nationality which belongs, as a rightful inheritance, to a noble, high-minded people. Sympathy for such a cause will always come from the American people, who will ever recognise, as God-given, the right of sovereignty in such a nation. "But America owes unto those of Irish lineage a debt she can never repay, and America will not be unmindful of her obligation. In every struggle which has been ours, for independence, for freedom, for union, for the inalienable rights of men, the children of Ireland have held aloft America’s starry banner, and their blood has bedewed every battlefield, from Concord and Lexington to the shambles of the Argonne. Verily, with us have they maintained the proud title of the lighting race. But, they have brought to our democracy from old Erin qualities of mind and of heart that have given new life, a new meaning to our civilisation; for the true democrat believes in man’s sovereign dignity; the true democrat believes that every man is his brother; the true democrat hopes, as no other man can hope, because he trusts not simply, in man’s power for the righteous fulfilment of his destiny, but recognising God above, believes that He will give the needed strength, and the needed light; the true democrat is ever willing to sacrific his petty, private interests for the weal of the larger group. From Ireland, Patrick’s children brought faith in man’s dignity, a brotherhood that has made them at home in every land ’neath the sun, a hope in the future of man’s accomplishment never daunted, a trust in God and in prayer, and a spirit of sacrifice for principle that stands out across the Irish ages as only short of miraculous. Who can tell what these elements mean in a civilisation dedicated to democracy ? But there has been a higher contribution from Erin’s sons to our nation’s lifethe contribution that has come directly from their religious belief. The history of national life, since the advent of Christianity, bears witness to the fact that permanent greatness demands a belief in an all-wise, all-powerful God, whose kindly providence cares for the least things of earth; demands a belief in submission to God’s behest.”