Was it for This?

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 20, 18 May 1922, Page 17

Was it for This?

The Answer (By Andrew E. Malone, in the Free State.) Was it for this the Wild Geese spread The gray wing upon every tide, For this that all that blood was shed, For this Edward Fitzgerald died, And Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone, All that delirium of the brave. . , .

This question is being asked throughout the length and breadth of Ireland by opponents of the Treaty. It is not being asked in the same exquisite language that Yeats uses in the poem quoted. It is being asked in the language of innuendo; in the language of the politician rather than in the language of the poet. The language in which the question is being asked implies that those who negotiated the Treaty in London, those who supported it in An Dail, and those who supported it in the capacity of ordinary Irishmen are all unworthy of the sacrifices that have been made throughout our history, and more particularly, they are all supposed to be unworthy of the sacrifices of the immediate past. This language of innuendo is surely unworthy of the men who use it. It is unworthy of the men against whom it is used. Above all it is a definite blot upon that freedom in which cause it is supposed to bo used. Freedom comes from God’s right hand and needs a Godly train Davis warned us. Are we mindful of the warning? Are we mindful of the necessity for trust and tolerance which the gift of freedom makes imperative? It must be said, by one at any rate, that we do not seem to be at the moment mindful of any of these things. We are much too busy imputing motives and endeavoring to cast slurs to take heed of Davis. But we must take heed— and take heed quickly. A DECISIVE YES. When the question is asked “Was it for this . . that blood was shod?” there is no necessity for any Irishman of our day to look downcast, and there is no necessity for him to think that the only possible answer is “No.” On the contrary — answer is most decisively “Yes.” It was for this the blood was shed. For this Treaty, which is the reality of Irish freedom. The cause has had many names — it has superficially even had many objectivesbut always the aim was the same. The aim was to get rid of English government from Ireland. ' Through the whole course of our history, whether wo fought for an English king against an usurper or whether we called our objective Homo Rule it was always the same grand passion that inspired us. Our passion was to own and control our own country for ourselves. It was the great urge towards national individuality; not any mere form of constitution, that propelled our people through over 800 years of agony. It is true that some thought in terms of a republic it is true that some thought in terms of a monarchy; it is true that some thought in terms of repeal of the Union; if is true that some even thought in terms of Homo Rule. From time to time each and all of these things gave inspiration to our loaders and to the masses of . our people. Is it our function to sit in judgment upon those past upholders of our rights and beliefs ? Is it meet that w,e should pass judgment upon them? One and all they served the right as they saw it and through their continuous and cumulative efforts we are to-day about to enter into that heritage of freedom for which they wrought and fought and died. Most certainly it was for this that blood was shed. It was for this heritage of freedom which through and by the Treaty we are about to enjoy that “Edward Fitzgerald died, and Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone.” As a result of the sacrifices it is ours to see that the freedom is not abused and that it is not misused. FREEDOM AND GOVERNMENT. The Treaty brings freedom and the freedom it brings is real. It may not be necessary to say that freedom does not mean the absence of government, but as that idea is abroad it should be stated that on the contrary freedom depends upon government. The Treaty gives us the freedom to govern ourselves and to control our own destinies. That is all that for the present we require. In future our own economic affairs are to bo subject to 1 our own desire, to our own capacity, and to our own sagacity. We can make this island of ours an industrial hell upon the ap-

proved European and American models or we can make of it an ideal industrial commonwealth. In this alone lies everything that is likely to weigh upon the ordinary worker upon which this . and every other country ultimately depends. Our governmental energies can be used by our own people in future. In the past those energies were only used by our enemies to our detriment. Let it be emphasised that this freedom is a thing to be used by usit is not a gift of silver spoons for the mouths of every Irishman. To us the task of rebuilding our country. To us the task of replacing the ruins of every century from the twelfth to the twentieth, by the best that the brains and experience of this twentieth century can produce. It is surely a glorious task, and it is surely a tremendous honor to be alive in the time when such an opportunity is presented. In every aspect of our national life this Treaty , makes us —the ordinary, average, common us—supreme. There may be an oath; there may be a Governor-General; there may be a British Empire. What do they matter compared with the one great fact that in Ireland the Irish people are supreme — in Ireland the Irish people control their own education their own economic affairs, and their own defence. Everything else is unreal, everything else is merely the time-honored device of saving faces and keeping up appearances. OUR RESPONSIBILITY. It is true we shall be within the British Empire. It. is also true that we shall never again be under the British Empire. The British Empire can no longer infringe upon our national life. From this year our country can definitely take her place in Europe and in the world. Our representatives will be abroad. We can, and doubtless will, enter into commercial treaties with other countries. We can, and of course we will, be represented in the League of Nations — even we can by our efforts make of that body a real League of Nations instead of a body bullying in the interests of Britain and France. All these things are open to us. The future of our country is now definitely in our own hands. It is for us to make or mar it. We can, of course, mar the future. We can at this moment so hamper our government that its energies, which ought to be constructive, are merely defensive. We can see that our infant State is crippled at its birth, and if we do, future generations must hare for the crippled body and live with our crime. That infant body is now in our hands. It is dependent upon our care. Its growth is our business. No more is it in our mouths to say “England did it” and pass the blame verbally. Any mess wo make will now be our mess. The country is now ours to make of it what we will. To bring our generation to this point has involved great sacrifice. Noble men have died for this. We must endeavor to he worthy of their sacrifice. It was “for this that all that blood was shod” and though all the romance has pot died in Ireland — us hope it never shall die —it is for us to face the reality and to mould the plastic present into the imago of our heart’s desire.