The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 1920. THE BISHOPS AND IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 22 January 1920, Page 25

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 1920. THE BISHOPS AND IRELAND

fN the October number of the Irish EcclesiasN the October number of the frisk Ecclesim--3Ills? tical Record, just come to hand, we find » llTn the text of an important pronouncement on the problem of Irish, government, set forth jvlSpL beneath the names of the Irish Bishops, under the chairmanship of his Eminence xfsjffj*, Cardinal Logue. The opinion of a body of men, at once so able and so irreproachable, ought to have immense weight with English statesmen, while for Irishmen at home, and for their kinsmen and friends abroad, it is a document of supreme importance. The Irish Bishops are grave men past the prime of life. They cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called "hot-headed "Sinn Feiners," or "pro-German agitators." Their deliberations are inspired by charity and justice their aim and object is the spiritual and temporal prosperity of the Irish people, over whom God placed them as His representatives. Consequently we can find no more authoritative document than this pronouncement. We may read it ♦with assurance that it. expresses the naked truth about the situation /in Ireland, and that what the Bishops

claim as Ireland's right is based on;, solid ethical, historical, and ethnological foundations. :. *, After thanking the people of the "United States for all they did for Ireland, the Bishops begin to deal with the actual situation at their doors: "We have the evils of military rule exhibited at our doors. In this ancient, civilising Nation the people are not permitted to rule themselves. The work is done for them by some stranger without any knowledge of the country. It is the ride of the sword, utterly unsuited to a civilised nation, and supremely provocative of chronic rebellion-. The acts of violence, which we have to deplore, and they are few, spring from this violence, and from this cause alone. For mere trifles, for what in any free country wotdd be within the rights of all men, Irish people have been sent to gaol under savage sentences. Moreover, at the present time an enormous sum is raised here annually by over-taxation without any attempt being made, beyond empty promises ,to promote suitable schemes of reconstruction and development in Ireland. Money is being poured out as water across the Channel. But- if we ask back a little of the huge overcharge paid out of this country, the cry comes from the Castle that the remedy is to add to the rates. ... In the interests of peace and order, of morality and of nationality, this aggressive domination should stop once for all. . . . Ireland is a distinct and ancient Nation, and it is vain to hope that things will go well in Ireland or for England until Ireland's rights are duly recognised. She is fully entitled to a, government that will be the free choice of all her people. Her right is to be mistress of her own destiny. . . . We desire to state with all the earnestness we can command that now is the time for doing justice to Ireland as a Nation." • You will observe, reader, how different the facts exposed here are from the fablegrams submitted to their dupes by the daily papers. The Bishops emphatically testify that Ireland is ruled by outsiders who know nothing about the country or the people they rule ; that the strangers' idea of rule is oppression by military government: that, in fact, they rule Ireland by the Sword. The Bishops, again, bear witness that crimes are few among the Irish people, and that what excesses there are are due to the supremely provocative rule of Mr. George and Lord French. The Bishops, in a word, tell the fablegrammers and the press liars that not to the Sinn Feiners, but to the British Government, is to be attributed whatever of crime there is in Ireland. We are told by foolish or dishonest editors of our morning papers that Ireland has no grievances. Bead in reply what the Hierarchy say concerning the unjust and iniquitous taxation of the country under foreign domination. Mark well, too, that the Irish Bishops proclaim boldly that Ireland is a Nation and tluit she is fully entitled to a. government that will be the free choice of her people. In other words, the Bishops have proclaimed the doctrine of Sinn Fein, which in essence is contained in the foregoing two points: the nationhood of Ireland, and the right of self-determination for the Irish people. * • In the Melbourne Convention, we had an ample vindication of our policy for the past three years. Now we find the Irish Bishops, with the Bishops of Australia and of the United States, solemnly laying down for the guidance of their people the basic principles of that movement which is supported by the Irish people to-day under the leadership of Eamon de Valera. Ireland is a Nation, say the Bishops; Ireland is fully entitled to a government that will be the free choice of her people, they add. Here we have exactly the doctrine the Tablet has been teaching since the month of March, 1917; and in the same words we have the refutation and the confusion of the seonini and the weaklings and the doubters who attacked us in season and out of season, openly and secretly, for holding what a knowledge of history and a sense of justice must compel any man who loves Ireland, and who has not been sick-

ened with "officer's mess" or blinded by flag-waving, to hold unequivocally. ■ The Irish Nation-has its rights as a Nation ■ first of these is the right of self-determina-tion. No Englishman has any right, or any shadow of right, to legislate for Ireland, or to enforce on the people a government, devised by foreigners'. We may have personal ideas as to what sort of government is good or bad for Ireland, but we have no right to presume to dictate to the people any more than have the English. As Dr. Mannix said in his address in Melbourne, it is a question for the Irish people, and our dictation would be a mere impertinence. It is not a question as to what we think good or bad for them; it is simply a question as to whether we are with them or not. And let us remember that if we are not with them we are against them now. Logically, therefore, Sinn Fein or anti-Sinn Fein means for Ireland or against her. Let us stand fast by the Convention and by the Bishops, and let press liars earn their dirty gold in their own dishonorable ways.