IRISH NEWS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 42, 26 October 1922, Page 43

IRISH NEWS

CRIMES OF THE IRREGULARS DENOUNCED. The Most* Rev. Dr O’Sullivan, Bishop of Kerry, in the course of a long letter to be read in all churches in the diocese, refers to the shooting dead of two Red Cross soldiers at Killarney. “To add,” he writes, “to the infamy of this .revolting crime, the assassins made sacrilegious use of the sacred ruin on Innisfalien to effect their murderous designs.” _ ■ His Lordship begged young men connected with the revolt to return to their homes. The perperators of the atrocious crime at Innisfallen, his Lordship added, and all their misguided comrades engaged in destroying property and commandeering goods, were acting in defiance of the moral law and were guilty of brigandage and murder. Equally guilt were all who countenanced their criminal courses by counsel, encourage- . ment, approval, or co-operation of any kind. POPE’S SORROW. AT THE DEATH OF MICHAEL ' COLLINS. Messages of Condolence. Pope Pius has been deeply moved by the news of the shooting of General Collins. This and similar incidents of recent occurrence, his Holiness said, show the need of the masses to return to the teachings of the Christian doctrine of love and peace among men, and the necessity for them to realise that violence does not secure the triumph of any cause. Among the countless messages of sympathy with the Irish Government, and expressions of horror at the appalling death of General Michael Collins, are: Archbishop of Cashel. —“Deepest sympathy with army and Government of Ireland on sad fate of General Collins, Ireland’s bravest son.” Archbishop Duhig, Brisbane (who is at present in * Dublin). —“Accept my heartfelt sympathy in the unparalleled tragedy that has robbed the Irish nation of its ■ bravest son. The name of Michael Collins was revered throughout Australia. His death will win millions of friends to the cause for which he died. God rest his soul.” Bishop of Waterford. —“Shocked at news of death of ' Commander-in-Chief. ’ ’ Bishop of Killaloe. —“Overwhelmed by tragic news. In the Commanding Chief of the Irish army, General Michael Collins, they have killed a man of all others adored of Ireland. His sad death will deeply distress, but will not dismay, the Irish people. May God remember the dead and strengthen the nation against its unnatural enemies. —M. Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe.” Bishop of “Profound sorrow' at news of death of Ireland’s great leader. America, I know, will join with Ireland in mourning your nation’s loss. The news will solidify there the sentiments which already exist, and which I need not describe, except to say that we are with you and against those who are responsible for this great loss to Ireland. If there is any decency of sentiment or sanity of reason among the Irregulars, surely this appalling news will have a sobering effect on them. May God rest his great, noble, chivalrous soul, and bring peace to this troubled country.” Bishop of Auckland.—“ Profound sorrow, death of great patriot and leader. Henry Cleary, Bishop .of Auckland.!’ Mayor of. Wexford. —“Wexford shocked at terrible .. news. Accept heartfelt sympathy. —Corish.” G. B. SHAW ON IRELAND: “THE STALE ROMANCE THAT PASSES FOR POLITICS.” Mr. George Bernard Shaw, who had recently been in Ireland for a fortnight at Rosslare, and later returned ' to London, was asked by , a , representative of the Irish Times to express an opinion on the Irish situation. “Well,” was his reply, “what , can anyone say that .has not been said already until people are so tired of it that the words have lost all meaning? If you ask me .s'.,: :what ■ on earth Mr. de Valera and Mr. Erskine Childers are driving at—What they think they are doing, as the English say—l can only say that I don’t know. / And that

is the weakness of their position from the moment when the elections went against them so completely that the members they were allowed to return by arrangement could not pretend to any representative character, they had either to . accept the popular verdict and set. to work to convert the Irish people to their views or to choose between the two other courses open to them; One was to - subdue the country by armed force, British fashion, and coerce it to become an independent little republic, .whether it liked it or not. The other was to take to the mountains and live more or less merrily by brigandage in the manner ' of Robin Hood. What has happened is that Mr. de Valera and Mr. Childers have attempted the first alternative, but having no war chest and apparently no programme beyond calling Ireland a republic, they have been forced to tell their troops on pay-day that they must . live on the country, which means. in practice that the leaders are to be republicans contending for a principle and their troops are to be brigands. This is an impossible situation. No community can tolerate brigandage, even when it is. good-natured brigandage. The existing brigandage is not good-natured and Ireland is obviously on the point of losing its temper savagely with Robin Hood, Alan-a-dale, Friar Tuck, and the rest of them. ❖WWW ARCHBISHOP CURLEY’S ADVICE TO COUNTRYMEN. “We in America now believe that the - case of Ireland has become a purely domestic question.” So said Most Rev. Dr. Curley, Archbishop of Baltimore, in the course of an interview with a representative of the Dublin Press. “When,” he added, “Mr. de Valera came to America last year I was his friend, and I presided at his big meeting at Jacksonville, Fa. Now, as an Irishman I can no longer see eye to eye with him. The man is a mystery to me.” ' It now remains for the Irish people to determine the form of Government they will live under, said his Grace, in discussing the situation. “It seems,” he continued/ “to me that they have determined this by the majority vote of their representatives in Dail Eireann approving the action of the Plenipotentiaries. They also expressed their will in the recent election. The Irish people, therefore, -as a whole by an enormous majority are desirious of accepting the Treaty and of making the best of it. It follows, according to the principle of justice and right that the country ought to settle down to work the Treaty, to solidify its position, and to advance the interests of the nation, develop its resources, and theft fn 25 or 50 years — small period in the life of a nation they may wish to change their position and re-assert their demands just as they think 'fit. This is the commonsense view. “I would,” he pursued, “be glad to see the Republican ideal kept alive and a Republican party at work in the Irish Parliament, but the present situation is illogical and intolerable. The vast majority of Americans to-day regard the action of the so-called Irregulars as inimical to the best interests of Ireland. The American people are overwhelmingly in favor of the Free State, and stand at the back of the Government of Michael Collins and the late esteemed Arthur Griffith. “It is a lamentable fact that as the result of the present condition of affairs Ireland has became a, laughingstock for the nations of the world, and those of us who in America have done all we could in the fight for Irish freedom have - been humiliated by the present state of things, where Irishmen themselves are advancing, to all intents and purposes, the regime of the hated “Black-and-Tans.! / . The opinion of the American public, as it is, may be expressed in this phrase: — 1 We are sick of Ireland, and we do not want to hear about her any more,’ ” continued his Grace. . “I don’t wish to accuse the followers of Mr. de Valera of improper • methods, but objectively their present mode of action seems on the outside sheer madness.” He emphasised the fact that he felt ‘keenly the present situation because of his undying love for his native land. “When,” he concluded, “I return to America I will place before the American people as fully and as clearly as I can all the knowledge at my disposal of the sad condition off things which I found existing there. I visited Dublin Castle, and I spoke to the stalwart young men there from .. all the counties in Ireland, and I found them unanimous in their adhesion to the Treaty , and their desire to carry on and to make the best ‘of their hard-won. victory in the 5 / interests of their long suffering country.” / : rj-