Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 15 September 1921, Page 14

Current Topics

The " Otago Daily Times" From the Otago Daily Times, edited by Mr. James Hutchison, Managing Director, Sir George Fenwick, we extract the following sample of British gentlemanliness:

"Suppose the Sinn Fein Thugs were recognised as a regular army and their inhuman Thuggeries as acts of war. We shall never say so but we might leave it open to the murderers themselves to say so, if it is any comfort to them."

Two Laughs Readers of the Dunedin morning paper found it quite equal to Comic Cuts last week. In one place we were told that Mr. Massey had to cut out many purely social functions before leaving London because he was engaged in discussions on international affairs of a most delicate nature ! What it is to have a gentleman and a scholar for a Prime Minister. Our William was probably translating into French, German, Italian, and Japanese the remarks of his colleagues. The second joke was celebrated by a multitudinous smile on the faces of the readers of the Daily Times when the editor described the clear, logical, masterly reply of Dail Eireann as "verbiage." Why the smile?

Mr. Holland on Ireiand A large audience assembled in the Art Gallery last week to hear a lecture on Ireland by the Leader of the New Zealand Labor Party. For nearly two hours Mr. Holland held his hearers by the tense interest of an address that will do much to bring home to Dunedinites the truth about the case of Ireland. He dwelt on the point that the radical cause of the sufferings of Ireland was economic, and that Irishmen and Laborites ought to make common cause against the common enemy. He traced the policy of economic exploitation down across the centuries to the present day, proving clearly that it is false to say that religion and bigotry are at the root of the Irish question and naming the great non-Catholic leaders of the historic Irish movements for freedom in the past. Needless to say the day-lies did not give Mr. Holland anything like a fair report, and, whether through ignorance or prejudice, they missed the leit-motif of the whole lecture. Mr. Holland, in common with many students of Irish history, says that the land was held in common by the ancient Gaelic tribes. In this he differs from Professor Mac Neill who, in his latest work, points out what he considers the mistake made by his predecessors on this head.

Republican Discipline It is amusing nowadays'to think of the day-lie tales we used to be told about the Sinn Fein extremists whom de Valera could not control! The whole world has been impressed by the marvellous discipline that enabled the Irish President to keep his pledge concerning the truce. He simply said: "We have agreed upon a truce, keep it honorably." Republican Ireland honored his word and honored herself by the manner in which her army kept the tr v uce, clearly proving that Dail Eireann is a government that can govern. How different it was in Carsonia where the truce was never kept and whither Craig had to invite the army in order to help the Orange Cabinet in the hopeless , task of controlling the murderers of Belfast. "Outside the six counties," says Old Ireland, "de Valera had but to hold up his little finger and life and property were secure. Inside the six counties the men who lead call, in a panic, on the British forces to save them from themselves. In all seriousness we suggest that they should address that request to the Commander-in-Chief of the I.R.A. He, at any rate, is competent

to do his job." Nothing that occurred for a long time has done so much as the outrages during the truce to expose to the public the true nature of Belfast's objection to Irish freedom. Of course our day-liars are doing their bit by refusing to tell the facts about the Carsonia campaign of murder, but in spite of them murder will out.

The Carsonia Outrage More than one gentleman has written to the Otago Daily to call attention to the fact that the truth is being suppressed concerning the murderous antiCatholic campaign in Carsonia. That British organ of sweetness and light either refuses to publish or else mutilates the letters, as it has always mutilated letters that called attention to the shameful forgery which the same British organ published. The Carsonia riots were not fortuitous happenings; they were the development of the offensive against the Nationalists of Ulster planned by the British Government when Lloyd George armed the Orange Specials against unarmed Catholics in accordance with his programme to create a civil war in Ireland by provocative action in Ulster. The plot might have succeeded only that the murders and the burnings which the Government condoned attracted the attention of a body of men who do not condone crime. The 1.R.A.. took a hand in the game and proved to the Orangemen that it was not their idea of fair play to stand by and allow ten men armed' by the British Government to kill one Irish Catholic. Since the British gentlemen who edit our day-lies will not tell the truth we must once more try to make up for their shortcomings. By last mail we were fortunate enough to receive by letter the following account of the doings of the Orangemen, supplied by an Ulster Parish Priest. We give his word for it: "The C B ' specials, a class of ' special' Specials in Carsonia were never disarmed by the Government. They were selected by the Orange Lodges. The chief qualification required was that they be notorious for hatred of the Catholics. These men are let loose on a population for whom it is a crime to be armed. Not only are these Specials well armed out of the stock brought into the country from Germany by Carson but they further receive abundant ammunition to distribute to their friends. One night they placed the following notice on every Catholic house in my district: It is the will of the King that all Papists should leave Ulster by (date). Last Friday four of them knocked at the door of the curate's residence. They told the housekeeper that they wanted to see Father Donnelly. The servant, a brave girl, kept them talking while the priest escaped by the back door. He dare not sleep in his. own house at present, and he is a nervous wreck. He—and even the —receive threatening letters frequently." A furthr proof of the crimes that our British gentlemen try to cloak is had from the following letter of Dr. Macßory, Bishop of Down and Connor:

"To the Editor Irish Independent. "Sir, — hope it may be possible for you to find space in to-morrow's issue for the enclosed list of dwelling houses which on Sunday, July 10, in one small area lying between Shankill and Falls Road, Belfast, were burned, looted, or had the furniture smashed to fragments. Each house sheltered at least. one familysome two or three—and it is noteworthy that'neither on the day when these horrors were perpetrated, nor since, has a.single dwelling-house of any non-Catholic been interfered with. I refrain from further comment, however tempting. . . * Joseph Macßory." The list follows and we find that 146 homes were wrecked on one Sunday, and that in every case they were homes of Catholic families. That is how the Orangemen have kept the truce. That is the sort of British fair play a minority must expect in Carsonia. That arson proves how futile is Mr. Lloyd George's plea of anxiety for the adequate protection of minorities. • •'.'-/ ' {:' >.-' ..;'

Elliott Scourged Again

The P.P.A. organiser announced that after due study he would reply to the crushing exposure of his ignorance for which the public have to thank Professor Pringle. After a considerable time the promised letter appeared, and afforded us another proof of the inability to go straight that marks the pathway of the P.P.A. In a brief rejoinder, the Professor once more scarifies the ranter whose falsehoods, while good enough for his weak-minded dupes, cannot survive investigation:

To the Editor. ' Sir, —Mr. Howard Elliott is quite incorrigible. Inaccuracy like a pale ghost haunts every line he writes. To take some small points first: He says that my letter appeared in your columns on the 18th ult. It really appeared on the 16th ult. He gives the date of the Convention of Berlin as 1883 instead of 1833. Near the end of his letter he says that I stated that I had been in and out of the Temple for 12 years without becoming acquainted with a K.O. I made no such ridiculous assertion. What I said was that for the last 12 years I had been in and out of the Temple in London almost every day and I never heard of Mr. E. P. Hewitt. These are trifling points, but trifles reveal the man. Such sloppy and inaccurate statements (made after nearly three weeks' delay for the express purpose of consulting references) serve to illustrate Mr. Elliott's power of sifting facts and his large capacity for muddled thinking. But on one point I must congratulate Mr. Elliott. Previously he said that "the Powers combined in what was called the Holy Alliance." Now in the second paragraph of his latest letter, he accepts Mr. Alison Phillips's statement that "The Holy Alliance was not even the semblance of a universal union." (that is, in plain language, is not even the semblance of a League of Nations) "but frankly the league of three monarchies for the defence of autocracy against revolution." He did not remember the first clause in this sentence when he wrote the first paragraph of his letter, and he had quite forgotten it by the time he reached the third a*id later paragraphs. But it contains the gist of my contention. I recommend Mr. Howard Elliott to adopt M. Clemenceau's plan and repeat to himself, say, for a fortnight every night just before he goes to sleep and every morning immediately he awakens: "The Holy Alliance was not even the semblance of a League of Nations." Then it will be indelibly printed on his memory. But my difference with Mr. Elliott goes deeper than a criticism of his plausible, historical inexactitudes. Like him, I detest the principles and policies for which the Holy Alliance stood. But, unlike him, I am unwilling to follow the modern supporters of autocracy, among whom in England the National Review stands out conspicuously, in condemning the League of Nations. There are, alas, in the modern world insatiable ambitions and sinster diplomatic forces at work, both in Protestant and in Catholic countries. But they are without exception ranged against, and not on the side of, the League of Nations, as any decently informed student of international politics knows full well. Wittingly or unwittingly (I prefer to think unwittingly) it is of these forces and ambitions that Mr. Elliott is making himself the champion in New Zealand.

In conclusion,' I am very glad indeed to accept Mr. Elliott's invitation to "assure the minds of many thousands of people through America and the Empire" that President Wilson's fourteen points were not based on the Pope's pro-German Peace Note. If they had been, I should have said "all honor to the Pope!" But they were not. I cannot ask you, Sir, to give me two or three columns of your valuable space to prove this in detail. But the essential proof is very simple. Let Mr. Elliott and these thousands of people read (1) the Pope's Peace Note of August 1, 1917, (2) President Wilson's reply thereto of August 27, 1917, and (3) President Wilson's fourteen points of January 8, 1918. If they have not the necessary newspaper files beside them, I may refer them to a small book published by

Messrs. George Allen and Unwin (Limited)) called "Peace Proposals and War Aims," which contains these and all the other important diplomatic papers of the war period.—l am, etc.,

W. Henderson Pringle. The University of Otago, September 7.

Who Won the War ?

There could be no red rag so offensive to a bull as the plain statement of fact that America won the war is to the average Colonial Jingo. He claims that there is no possibility of doubting that England, aided by himself, won it. Looking around at the recent combatants and taking stock of them we find England still dazed and tottering, and to all outward appearances in ueed of first-aid. France's terror and panic hardly reveal her as a proud conqueror at present. And of course it is the first article of the jingo creed that Germany was beaten—preferably by us. However that may be, it is foolish to think that Germany has fared worse than her alleged conquerors. While Mr. Massey's regime has left New Zealand on the rocks and while under Lloyd George England has become bankrupt Germany is standing up to her work of reconstruction and making good every day. England is of course trading with Germany, as we also would be if we were not governed by luminaries of such high intelligence as Nosworthy, Anderson, Parr, Massey, and Lee. But it is when we consider German trade with the United States that we find what real progress she has made already. The following extract from The Fortnightly Review throws no little light on that subject: "American sales to Germany for the fiscal year ending this month are the largest for any year in the entire history of American trade relations with Germany. Before the World War, Germany was buying about 8300,000,000 of American-made goods every year. The high water mark was reached in 1913, when German purchases in this country reached $352,000,000. This year our German exports will exceed $400,000,000. This is a larger volume of export business than we are doing with any other country in the world, with the possible exception of France and England. For the last few weeks, the average has been considerably in excess of one million dollars a day. "But what about German exports to the U.S. ? you will ask. These figures, of course, are hardly so favorable, but they are far from being discouraging. The year immediately preceding the war, Germany shipped $185,000,000 worth of goods to this country. This year, the total will be more than $100,000,000. The rapid growth of German exports to the U.S. is shown by the fact, that for last February the total was $'4,952,000, in comparison with $7,368,000 for March. Everyone must acknowledge that Germany has made a remarkably quick recovery in her commercial relations with the U.S.

"German is making a like progress in • rehabilitating her merchant marine. The past month saw several new ships make their maiden trip to South America. At Hamburg the tonnage is already about two-thirds of the tonnage for 1913. This does not look like a decrepit attempt to take a share of the world's carrying trade. And despite all handicaps, the Germans continue to astound the world with their ingenuity. During the war they overcame the shortage of fuel by using the fuel composed of one-third coal oil and twothirds coal, but how they managed to utilise it, no one knows.

"In five years, it is predicted, Germany will have a new merchant marine of economical, cargo-carrying fleets, while other nations will be loaded down with expensive ocean-going junk. Their one handicap is a shortage of lubricating oil and that they are about to overcome by means of a synthetic oil lately discovered. But Germany is not out of the race by a great deal. Despite the injustice of the Treaty of Versailles, her people have taken heart and will give an example to the rest of the world of how a nation can 'come back' with.the greatest possible odds against it.