The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1920. BRITISH FAITH

New Zealand Tablet, 30 December 1920, Page 25

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1920. BRITISH FAITH

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fURING the War England was in mortal terror of the Germans. English regiments had a double dose of the same terror, and on more than one occasion put into practice their conviction that he who fights and runs away will live to fight another day. We know how the Colonial troops used, with ; boot and whip and even revolver "stiffen" the poor washed-out Tommies, and we used to. hear laments from English Generals because the Irish, than'whom there were no better "missile" troops, or "stiffening" material; were : not inclined to fight for the greater'glory of Orangemen and Jews. It was on this account that the English Government, had circulated.in Ireland a recruiting appeal, entitled "Ireland and the Peace Conference." This remarkable document stated : • ;: b ' t '" "The Allies declare in specific terms that; they are out to give freedom to small nationalities. The Central Powers, Germany and Austria, ' refuse to declare any such thing, and their treatment of Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro, and Rumania in the present war is enough to .show their principles and 5 method: ,: But they go further and ask . the ; Allies to agree to close out all nations not in enjoyment of freedom prior to • the war. The Allies refuse, 7,V it not in the interest of Ireland then to. test the 'public declarations i of ■ the Allies and aid them'- in the Unlit they are waging f6r small nationalities. They cannot, then, id the face of Europe, Fi give freedom, to all } small nations 'aM leave Ireland out. ' ' ■',_ . : - •_•, .... .;: .■-..-<., -..' .■ ..

v ' Note that there is not a word about'the danger to the ; ; Empire of "an independent Ireland, not a word about Ireland's share of the ■ War Bill. , There . is only as j pretty a piece of "'British ' lying and hypocrisy , ; as even Lloyd George ' could concoct. ; Unfortunately many ■' lrishmen were - foolish i enough to give their lives on account of that lie. - - ■• '•'■ ' ' '• .;.-;. '■ n -; * •-;•■'.■ - V •-^•-: : . ~.■.„, : ; '" That was the promise. What was the fulfilment? Our local papers—the 4 Otago Daily Tim and others publish columns of misrepresentations concerning the Home Rule Bill. There is 'only one way to describe that Bill: ; it is . a # scheme for the glorification of Ulster and for the oppression by "armed .'forces of Catholic . Ireland. ■ There is only* one attitude for Irishmen towards it, .and that may be expressed by substituting the word "Bill" for the word "Pope" in the -prayer of the pious Orangemen. It is a Bill for the enslavement of Ireland ; it aims at ensuring this by fomenting sectarian strife and by placing at the disposal of the Orange savages the wealth and power of England. It is, in a word, 1 a Bill worthy of the disgraced English nation that stands before humanity to-day crimestained and debauched in blood, grinding down defenceless people in India and in Ireland. The twentysix counties outside of the North-east cornea* will have nothing to do with the Bill, and Tyrone, speaking for Nationalist Ulster, assures us that the Orangemen will not have it all their own way there : ■ ; . "We declare if the present or any future Government at Westminster persists in forcing -the people of these constituencies into a Parliament in Belfast our determination to resist "even "with our lives the operation of such a tyrannous and outrageous law, which seeks to place our people under the heel of our political opponents, supported by arms supplied by the Govern-ment-va: proposal inconsistent with justice to which we can never consciously submit." That is no idle threat. Tyrone and Fermanagh are not under the heel of Carson.", They arc Irish counties and they stand for freedom to-day as they did in the days of the great O'Neills and Maguires. They alone comprise more than 36 per cent, of "the Northeast corner." Moreover, in Antrim, Down, Armagh, and Derry Sinn Eein is strong "at present, and even there, the kingdom of Carsonia will never become a "Utopia. No doubt the Lloyd George Government will send men and 'guns to kill the» "Ulster Nationalists while Greenwood is drenching with Catholic blood the three provinces which England proposes to rule as she ruled Nigeria, India, and other spheres of her murderous activity. ~; ._■ v . * ,''..-,' Speaking about Russia, during the War, Lloyd George said: "You must set up a'Government which the people want, otherwise it would be an outrage upon f all the principles for which.we fought." Speaking about Ireland at Carnarvon, the same person defends murder, robbery, rape, and arson in Ireland as means of -preventing the people from •:obtaining the government they want. These two speeches mark the char- ' acter of Lloyd George, of his associates in the English Government, of our Colonial;;"statesmen," and of the army of press liars who defend the frightfulness in Ireland : ' they mark the low-water . of degradation to which England has fallen. To outsiders it seems in these days that the English people will allow no man to share in their government unless he has made money in some shady manner, ; or else made for himself an international reputation as a liar and a breaker' of; pledges. The degradation of England concerns' us but indirectly, and English Home Rule Bills concern Sinn Eein hardly;more than a pronouncement from, the Tailors of Tooley i Street. If England , wants peace with Ireland de { Valera and Griffith have pointed, out .the Way to have it. - "The problem," said de Valera, not long ago, "can ' only be solved by a Treaty of Peace, signed by ; the accredited representatives ; of • the ; two peoples, -on, the basis of a guarantee of -Ireland's, independence on,the one hand and a guarantee of Britishsecurity on the other by some international instru-

;ment. V: Arthur Griffith says : "Ireland seeks no more than the acknowledgment of her independence. Provided that acknowledgment be made, she is quite ready to enter into a ; treaty by which the independence» and security of the ' two countries can >be mutually ¥ guaranteed. . ;.;. Some of your politicians 1 ' refer to Ireland as an enemy on your -flank. r 'When you deal with Ireland" as nation with 'nation, there will be no longer an enemy on your flank. She will be a country by your side whose interest it will be to live in peace and amity with you." In a word,'lreland repeats Seaghan MacDermot's message '■:% to, England: "Concessions be damned! We want our country." - And England breaks her pledges and soils her flag for exactly the same reasons as : Lord Limavaddy described the /traitor Carson as a : patriot, or outraged decency in his subservience to a horsewhipped r cad who ; demanded his pound of .flesh from the politicians at :>■ whose service he had placed his filthy mind and "'false tongue.V : .r