THE LESSON OF BOTHA.

New Zealand Tablet, 13 November 1919, Page 22

THE LESSON OF BOTHA.

Hi the course of a recent address, Mr. J. Devlin, M.P., said he could not conceive why there should ho any hesitation (iii the part of those who had it within their power to give Ireland the right she sought. - After• all, wherever that principle had been recognised, as in Australia, Canada, and South Africa, the peace of the world had been • made more secure and friendship had been created" and fostered where previously existed hatred and national rancor. -Where liberty , had. been conceded, loyalty had been ' created. Loyalty rested upon liberty, ami' human'progress and happiness could only ho secured by the freedom of peoples. I Ik- death of General Botha had brought irresistibly to their minds the truth. of that declaration, That noble and truly great figure, who had , now disappeared amidst the, sorrow of. mankind, was in his lifetime a. manifestation of how freedom and trust could beget friendship and goodwill between. warring peoples. Botha : was one of tin* most trusted of all the statesmen who had contributed ■to the peace which had been .. temporarily created*,, .and would he permanent and enduring only if General Botha’s principles were put in operation everywhere. As.he , had • said, ,it was fitting that , they should meet together the . present- period , and. make it clear that they demanded, the .application.to Ireland of the principle that no nation -had the right to control, and. manage, the affairs of another nation. When they were asked, “What is iit; you ; Irish _ want?;’ the answer should be, “We want our country for ourselves, and we are determined to have ' it.” ' For,; his • part, he .would rather he badly governed,' by his ! own countrymen than well governed by the , people of. any other country. But had Ireland been well governed under an .alien system? Was it any satisfaction to England : to-day that . the one dark Spot was Ireland 11 when isix years -‘ago one ,of her most eminent) statesmen described it as “the one ( bright spot” ? Ireland Would be a bright spot ' again when Ireland secured that to 1 which : she was entitled; ; that freedom which he believed v.Tuld be hers 1 iii their own day aiid generation. - ■ ’ ifacs?-! VU AM V: :i-;>A v ..... -..