PROTESTANT MINISTER ON IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 24 February 1921, Page 22

PROTESTANT MINISTER ON IRELAND

Rev. Dr. Norman Thomas, editor of the World ToMorrow, who is a Presbyterian minister, thus writes in the current number:

The World To-Morrow has tried to give reasons for its faith in Irish freedom. We have secured an unusually competent correspondent with no Irish affiliations to investigate the situation. We have published her letters. We have also published the solemn declaration of the London Nation that .no conceivable government in Ireland could be as bad as Dublin Castle rule. It is our own convicion that no atrocity is so serious, as the continuing atrocity of the attempt by coercion laws and the sacking of cities to govern a proud people against their will. From the deliberate attempt to coerce Ireland spring all the other ills of the situation.

Not a Blanket Endorsement.

Many of you, however, are not persuaded by the evidence we have carried. It is not our present purpose to argue the problem as a whole, but simply to point out one especial responsibility that rests upon you. The Catholics in certain ."Ulster towns have suffered from veritable pogroms at a time when not a hair on the heads of the isolator Protestants in Southern Ireland has been touched. On this subject American Protestants ought to speak in unmistakable tones. A Protestant delegation from Ulster received hospitable welcome from many Protestant churches. The delegation has diligently advertised the fact in Ulster. Let American Protestants at least make it plain that their welcome gave no blanket endorsement of a revival of religious warfare. The tragic facts about the Ulster riots are inescapable and undeniable. Last month we quoted the Nation's comment on them.

Vivid Pictures of Events in Belfast.

Mr. Francis Hackett in a tone far removed from religious bigotry comments on the situation as he studied uin Belfast. This is his summary: “In the name of law and order 4000 workmen are evicted, burned out, driven away. Hundreds of people are wounded and over two score killed.” So far as we are aware, there has been no attempt to deny the. fact that in the serious Ulster rioting Protestants and Unionists were the aggressors, Catholics and Sinn Feiners the. sufferers and the defenders. On the whole the military supported the rioters, who burned homes and attacked Women and children in the name of loyalty to the British Empire and to Protestant religion. A vivid picture of events is to be found in certain private letters which have been sent us. They depict people who for days neie in hourly dread of a raid,” who “ for nights had no sleep,” and whose anxiety has . not yet been relieved. This is true of those who did not themselves suffer dispossession or physical injury. It is to the everlasting credit of the Catholics that so far as we can discover they have expressed so little hate in reply. No Word of Hate From Catholics. One letter we have seen having recounted events, ends thus:—“There are hundreds of refugees in Belfast; homeless and penniless and no prospect of getting work’ we don’t even realise what some of our people are suffering. I hope you won’t forget to say a prayer for us all that’s the best you can do for the present,” Thera is no word of hate. Irish papers report Protestant meetings in South Ireland to protest against the conduct of their co-religionists. Here and there ah attempt is made to extenuate these pogroms, 1 as well as the abominable deeds of the Black-and-Tans,” by .reference to the : shooting of policemen. However severely you may condemn- these acts, surely you will agree that it is monstrous to argue that the murder of policemen charged . with , particular crimes against the Irish- people .justifies the pogroms in Ulster or the sack of Irish towns. “ Surely you do not believe that sniping in Belgium justified the sacking of Louvain or that the revolutionary terrorism under the ■ Tsar ' justified Jewish pogroms. Moreover, the English Quaker Commission calls attention to the fact that ‘safety is -found only in those districts from,which-^.Engli^.Hilary-]police have been withdrawn —a fact which points an easy wav to real law and order. - '■ l >.u lo .Jiilii h Motive Economic. ’ > ■ The Sinn Fein leaders as a rule recognise that the

motive behind this revival of "'religious warfare, is 'primarily ; economic arid secondarily. political. { Belfast employers find it easier to deal with labor : divided on the religious issue. The riots began with the ejection of Catholic workmen from the shipyards, where, owing to slack time, there is a fierce competition for jobs. But the truth is that the employers and the politicians of the type of Sir Edward Carson have created a monster they cannot control. They have lit fires of bigotry that burn brighter than one could have believed possible in. this century. They have encouraged. Hilt; -.QocLijne uiai/ wis ,■. iuiudouu uwvcimuu v«jclongs to a chosen people and can guide his conduct by the ethics of the Book of Joshua. No more unchristian doctrine is conceivable. Ulstermen are too fine, have too creditable contribution to make to Irish life, to fall prey to a continuance of this delusion. "Whatever American Protestants believe as to the ultimate solution of the Irish problem, let them by word and deed make it plain that all Protestantism is disgraced by the Belfast pogroms. We dare not forget that a continuance of Irish atrocities endangers the peace of the world. '