THE
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EDITED BY EOIN MAC NEILL. V o l.
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N o . 2 1.
( New Series.) I
NOTES..
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•So Lweuty-eight members of the Dublin Coqmration bave voted an adJress to the new Lord Lieutenant and Governor Ge~e ral of l rel and. Twenty-eight is considerably less than a majority, of the Corporation, and Lord Wimborne wilr appreciate the compliment. H e will also appreciate the audible· searching of souls that went on when the spokesm en of the twenty-eight were producing their carefully formulated apologi es for the vote .
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Alderman Quaid made a fresh bid for the He leadership of the New Imperialists. described the opponents of the vote as ' " cranks." A ·crank, I believe, is a piece of machinery used to com·ert movement m a straight line into movement in a sharp curve .
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An1ong the various turns of the crank in the apologetic speeches, a few are noteworthy. Once more it was procl~imed that Home Rule is on the Statute Book. Rois in Dubh- ·I . want this account settled . Sean Buidhe---But I have drawn a cheque . for it. Roisin- You gave me no cheque . Sean- Oh, it is all right. I hav·e it in my cheque-book.
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. An.o ther part of the apology was that Lord W~mborne is a declared Home Ruler. So is Mr. Asquith. So is Lord Cr~we. Are the twenty-eight F atbers satisfied with the latest de clarations of these ministers ~n the subject of Home. Rule ? In one respect it is a good thing to have th~ Home Rule Act in the Statute Book, just as it is a good thing to have the tem1s of the Treaty of Limerick in our history bo6ks: .. rt is there as a record and a warning. It places on record the exact· terms, cut down on their side to a minimum, to which · the Asquith Ministry stood pledged, and on the faith of which they were · maintained in office by the Irish Party. · Is'. > Lord Wimborne a .H ome Ruler according to the record in th e
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1, 1915.
SATURDAY, MAY
Price One P.e nny.
Statute Book, or is h.e a Home Ruler according to the subsequent violation of that record ? 011 this point, the t webty-eight a f>Ologists were dmnb.
much national ity as the.i r favourite anima:J,; have_. \\Then ·Agricola had broken down the struggle of the Britons for liberty, he at o~ce began to provide them with public amuse'ments afte r the Imperial fashion, and, w~ltes 'his' * * * The "treaty ., in the Statute Book 1vas made · son-in-la:i'I' Tacitus, " the iguorailt p~p l e miswith the Home Rulers of Ulster as well as of took for civi lisation what was in fact a part Of the rest of Ireland. Is Lord ' wimborne for their enslavement." .The horsy people say that k<..>epi.ng it? That treaty concerns I rishmen they keep up a great Irish industry. · As ~ a more close] y tha.1!- treaties guaranteeing the matter. of fad, the hens a.rid ·ducks; that' are position of Belgium or Egypt .. Q uestion, are left to do their own d .ckling a.rid quilcking; not' the apologists and · ochers of .their k ind bring five times as ·much wealth into Ireland: · doing their best to c.-ondone the violation of the * * * Home Rule Treaty by fheir obsequious silence It is rur;noured that the Libera.! H.ome .R u Ie, on the point? · Ministry has taken the piedge. Some people . * * in Ireland a re afraid they may put it on the Perhaps the most amusing part of the Statute Book. apology was .the statement that Lord Wimborne * * was to be addressed as the representative, not Mr. Dillon has been SP,Caking m Glasgow: of Imperial ·domi,nation, but of the British H~ is reported to have spoken as follows: Democracy. The ~British Democracy was "Ir~land had pledged her honour .that , wh~n consulted about this represe n tati~' e of theirs her. de.mands were granted E~gland and ~r just to the same extent as the Irish Democracy statesmen would find in ·Ireland :i_ loyal · and . . was consulted on t~is point, or on any of the faithful friend in .the hour ~f danger. . Th~ political developments of 1914. So far · as British . Government, _re.l ying on their hon9ur, history .shows, the British Democracy never and in spite of th re;its and enormous pressure, se nt but one representative to I reland, and passed Home Ru le, . and was it to be said that that one was Cromwell. Cromwell's sucx:ess in they who h~d never broken a treaty .wer.e nc)w Ire land was due to the double-facing attitude to set an example of perjured men and broken of the Ormondites. faith?" .
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The estimate in which the lrish people are held by the organs of the British Democracy was clearly enough shown when they expressed tl~e opinion that Lord Wimborne would be popular in Ireland because he is fond of horseracing . "Bread and horse-r~ces" was the prescription of an ancient school of Imperialists for keeping the Roman people in good humour. "B read and. water ai1d horse-races " is the modern · dose. And the hard-up apologist~, who failed to scrape up a majority of the Dublin Corporation to vote an ~ddress ' to . Oliver Cromwell's suc~ssor, did · not ~ven forget to put hors~-racing in' the apolo~y.
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Horse-racing for lrdand . is qu ite 'in the fmperial line of busin~ss . The horsy cornrrnmity a1> a class in Ireland have about as
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So, according Lo Mr.·. Dillon" 1relaQ~fs demands haye been granted. The Liberal Home Rule Ministry, or: the Union.ist--Libe'ral . Coalition, will not faii to note Mr. Di,l lon;s" declaration that Ireland's demands, as voiced · · by Mr. D il lon, have already 'been fulfi lled.
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Mr: ·Dillon went on to declare himself riow to be " under -the flag of England~" ·Not even · the fl ag of the B ritish Empire, not even the. · flag of the" U nited" Kingdom,' b'llt the ft.ag ·of · E ngland. T his, spoken in Scotland, is a great score · for the doctrines of Dalmeny ·a nd the · Predomi'n ant P artne~.
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Mr. Dillon . is D<lt!lrally not con1foitabk When Mr. Dillon. is .uncomfortable, h~ . be~me~