The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1920. HOME RULE MORYAH

New Zealand Tablet, 8 April 1920, Page 25

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1920. HOME RULE MORYAH

RELAND has grown so accustomed to £|| yi that she has come to regard the antics of the gang at Westminster with some sort of amusement. It is a consolation that s^ie i s able to smile in the midst of her sea of troubles but her great heart never * failed, and her present ridicule of the money-changers that govern England is a healthy sign of the times. The Welsh renegade, who betrayed every cause that he ever advocated and every man who ever trusted him, once engineered a bogus convention for ' the purpose of getting the Irish in America into the war; how sincere were his pledges to America was proved by the fact that he confessed that he had hot even read the report of his convention, when in answer to its findings he tried to impose conscription on the Irish people. Another such joke was the recent revival of the old << Souper” policy in education by the framing of a Bill that has as much hope of ever becoming law in Ireland as it has in Mam. His last exhibition of Welsh stupidity is the Home Rule Bill now put before the world, and already condemned by English papers, like the London Times, as far too favorable to that Orange gang who trafficked with the Kaiser and introduced German rifles and German drill-sergeants into Ulster. Our press, as usual, devotes much space to the consideration of Mr. George’s Bill. But Ireland smiles and goes on her way because she has taken British war pledges at their face value and means to insist that the men who induced soldiers to die for the right of self-determination or all nations, no matter whose selfish interests are : crossed, shall give to Ireland exactly what they claimed other despots should be forced to give to Poland or Belgium. ;; ■ : ’ * . ■■ The Home Rule Bill is nothing to Sinn Fein. The activities of Westminster schemers mean as . little to Ireland as the fly on a cow’s horn means to the cow. I or all Ireland cares the plutocrats might as well- pass

Home ' Rule Bills every day in the week. " Their Bills are , regarded by Sinn Fein exactly... as the American Senate would regard a Bill for the government of the United States, solemnly passed in the British talking shop. Consent of the governed is the only right to govern that is an ethical'principle that only a Hun can deny. It was also one of the principles that England agreed to when the Germans were on her borders and America was still hesitating. England may see no sin and no shame in making a liar of herself; she may not have soul enough to feel the opprobrium of calling men to fight against those who were doing to others exactly what she has been doing to Ireland for many centuries. But Ireland is a Christian country, and the ways of hypocrites and pledge-breakers are not her ways; Ireland has self-respect, and though she can suffer she cannot sell her soul. It is the English way to do that; but it is not Ireland’s. Therefore, Ireland- regards with contemptuous amusement the efforts of such persons as the cadaverous Canadian, Bonar Law, and the deceitful Welsh wizard, Mr. .George, and the old, hoary hypocrite, Arthur Balfour, to legislate for a people determined to recognise—in accordance with British war aims—a Government elected by the vast majority of the governed. Ireland’s position is that the British in Ireland stand in exactly the same relationship to them as the Prussians in Belgium stood to the Belgians; and the Irish regard British legislation for Ireland in exactly the same light as Cardinal Mercier regarded Prussian legislation for the Belgians. The Irish people are logical; what is more, they are standing fast by what was solemnly enunciated as a British war aim. And there they .mean to stand or die. * The Irish Bishops are with the people. In Maynooth, on January 27, the united Irish Hierarchy pronounced : * “We have therefore to declare that the one true way to terminate our historical troubles and establish friendly relations between England and Ireland to the advantage of both countries is to allow an undivided Ireland to 'choose her own form of government That is simply asking England to be honest and to keep her pledges. How she does keep them is clear from a letter of the Archbishop of Cashel to Mr. de Valera: —• “Ireland is in a state of bondage. Our press is muzzled, our fairs and markets are stopped, our exhibitions of industries are prohibited, our national games are barred, our literary and musical festivals are proclaimed; even the Princes of the Church are asked to guarantee that they are not criminals before they are allowed to use their motor cars. . “Our homes are raided by armed forces of the British Crown, our streets are paraded by an army of occupation. ... “To you, the trusted representative of the Irish people, I send the enclosed cheque for £SO as a contribution to the Irish National Loan. Here at home the British Government has continued to trample on the principles of Democracy. “I wish you every blessing on your noble, efforts to right the wrongs of centuries, and to free Ireland from the blighting influence of foreign rule.” _ There is ample episcopal approbation of Sinn Fein; there is the highest and sanest Irish opinion on the present misgovernment of Ireland by the brave British champions of oppressed people. To those persons. who carry round in their pockets letters from spiteful and half-hearted Irishmen who hate Sinn Fein we recommend serious meditation on the studied opinions of the Irish Hierarchy. To those persons who ask us what do the Irish people think of the latest British scheme, we reply that they think of it exactly what England would think if Lapland passed a Home Rule Bill for the British people. They think it is English from first to last. And Ireland, true to ethical principles, stands or falls by the right of a people to govern themselves. 1