IRELAND’S DESTINY: SEEING HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.

New Zealand Tablet, 17 March 1921, Page 32

IRELAND’S DESTINY: SEEING HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.

The Earl of Arran is an Irish landlord who sees the handwriting on the wall. In an article written by him for the National Review (London) he tries to make the English people see it also. He is of the opinion that the flag of the Irish Republic will be floating over Dublin Castle within two years' time. He does not favor the establishment of an Irish Republic, but facts are facts and'he invites the English people to look them squarely in the face. He tells them that Sinn Fein has become a mighty power which England cannot safely ignore. He writes : "The power of well organised propaganda in these days is tremendous, and Sinn Fein has not neglected it. All over the civilised world the emissaries of the Irish Republicans have sown the seed of their doctrines." The results of this propaganda are dwelt upon,. Summed up tersely they have haled England before the bar of public opinion in all civilised lands. There she stands charged with crimes against Ireland which have earned for her the condemnation and the contempt of mankind. The Earl feels aggrieved that such a state of things sliould exist. He fears that it will stand in the way of England applying Cromwellian methods to the suppression of Sinn Fein. Here is how he gives expression to this fear: "England is regarded abroad as the oppressor of a down-trodden race, and any action she may take towards the restoration of law and order will meet with strong and probably unjust criticism. ' A very small case of bloodshed will be magnified into a massacre and England has let things go so far in Ireland that it will only be by drastic measures she will be able to restore law and order." Law and order, in the mouths of the class for which the Irish landlord speaks, means the quiescent submission of the Irish people to Dublin Castle rule. The Earl of Arran, who from personal observation knows the strong hold the "Irish Republic" has upon those whose allegiance it claims, tells his English readers that the end of the English rule in Ireland is at hand. The reasons for arriving at this conclusion are thus set forth seriatim by the Earl of Arran: "The growing triumphs of the Sinn Fein cause, the sympathy of the world, the support of the English Labor Party, the contempt in which the English Cabinet is held in Ireland have all given such confidence to the Irish Republicans that the torrent of the demand for Irish independence will be almost impossible to stem, and it is the writer's belief that within two years the flag of a perhaps carefully camouflaged Irish Republic will be floating over Dublin Castle."