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THE IRISH PRESS, Philadelphia, October 26, 1918
LIFE AND WORK OF THOMAS DAVIS
By W. P. RYAN i
A's shaoil me 'n dhaigh sin
Go mbudh lochrann o Dhia thu;
No gur ab tu an reult eolais
Ag dul romham a’s mo dhiaigh thu.
CHAPTER I.
If Davis Wero With Us
Ireland might so sing to Davis, giv
ing these lines of the beautiful love
song a new significance
y, I fecl, that these pages!
the language of Ire-
of the Gaol and of;
Irish books is coming; nay in Irelaud
herself it has alveady come. Writing
in Irish 1 would seem closer to the
spirit of Thomas Davis. But Davis,
you may say, wrote in English, There
was an irony, therein was 2 misior-
ime. Everything about him was
tional except his speech. Happily,
had he lived, and grown ever deeper
in insight, his speech, too, would have
been national eventually; his earnest
essay on our national language sug-
gests as much. Hali a century since
he might have forestalled the Gaelic
League. He had some gleam of ils
saving truth; he saw much farther
an too many of his comrades of
Young Ireland. Our deep admiratioa
for his personal character, our en-
thusiasm over the work he planned
and wrought in @ difficult period, our
sense of the magic his example made,
are in every way justified. Neverthe-
less we are in no way blind to the
fact that tho absence in Young Ire-
land, as a whole, of the great ideal
of an Irish-speaking Ireland—much
easier ito realize in the forties of the
last century than today, had our peo-
pla gencrally been at the right point
of view—was an irony, and, more than
that, a calamity. Somo of Young Ire-|
land’s work was unstable and iran-
permanent realities and life-prin-|
ciples of nationhood, one of the most
essential of which is, of course, a liv-
ing national language. Davis, be it
remembered to his credit, at least felt!
that truth.
‘The little volumes in this sorics
will reach many Who have not the
good iortune us yet to be readers 0?!
Irish. In this transition siage, one
must do the best one can for them in
English. The young amongst them
will come to understand fully the|
sense and spirit of our nationality
when they have mastered Irish, It
will open a large new world; it will
illuminaie and intensify many things
which they now sec dimly and feel
instinctively, if somewhat vaguely.
‘Tuese books, too, will probably find a
goodly number of their readers, not|
too, that,.at this juncture, the begin-
uing of the twentieth conwury, they
should clearly and deeply realize the
Irish gospel according wo Davis, and
the logical developmenis, in regart
to the language and other things, that
Davis would certainly pursue with 2
firm faith were he living in our time.
On this realization, and the action
Unat results herefrom, will depend
character, their worth, their fu-'
or gonuineiy Irish; whether the;
are to drift, nay, be worse than those
that drift, or be effective faciors in
the Irish Stace, spiritual or social,
Remomber always that it we are to
be truc to the epiz
than merely “follow” him in the
dinary sense. We must develop, as
1 have said, as he himself would de-
velop were ho bodily in our ils
There are iorees and trends in our
period that did not exist in the years
of Young Ireland. ‘he obvious need
for the believer in Davis is to bring
the spirit and idoul of Davis to bear
ou the new circumstances. Davis to-
day would be alive to every worthy
phase of our Wider Irish movement,
Ho would be, of course, @ strenuous
and uncompromising Nationalist. He
would stand for principles more than
persons. His national work would
ve far wider than politics, in the or-
dinary, and too narrow, acceptation| |
of the term. He: would nevor be
apologetic or timidly explanatory to
Britain. He would never beg ihe
“predominant partner” 10 note ho’
modest in our demands, how “fitted
for solf-goverument” we are! His]
sense of the reel Ireiand’s pasi, and
of her achievements when she was
really berselfi—her achievements in
culture, in law-making, in poctry,
folidlore, in art, in self-realization’
generally, would make him too bold
and proud for that; his insight into
her capacities at her best would keep
so radiant a fire in his being, such 2
driving power in his nature, that he
would lash, or mayhap Jaugh at, the
British or othor politician or journal-
ist who would gravély consider her
ciaims as if sbe were a part of Devon
or Yorkshire, or a “sand bank” sight-
ed yesterday. For the “Seoiuin” he
would have scorpions, his gentle no-
ture notwithstanding. Do not forgot
that he was passionate when passion
was essential; though his passion was
ordered by roason. He it was who
declared that the Irish “nobles” were
Ireland's “disgrace.” “They were first
to sell and would be last to redeom
i” “The gentry thins,” quoth
“that thelr interest as well as thelr
|with ts members as a dark-minded
{section of the i
v
sient, because it was not based on the)
h| tions that are gone. Some went down
ol
wheiher they are to be nomin- i
iL of so wortiy al°
character as Davis we must do more! ©
rj 2bandoned, the sphere being unfitting
jn) Steatest tribute wo can pay to a man
duty is to degrade and wrong and
beggar the Irish people.” Again, “The
origin of the Irish aristocracy is in
confiscation, The naturo of that
ocracy results from their alien-
age—first of country, then of reli-
gion, * * * Their real power rests,|
as dt originated, in the force of Brit-
sh regiments, recruited by inconsid-
erate Irishmen.” He would welcome
the aristocracy to the world of Irish
ideas; but he would haye no patience
m. Nor would
timid, or tardy, in his honest
ricism of the people. Te would
not “spare” their weaknesses, whi
ever their causes or remote begin-
wings in the circumstances of history,
because he wonld see below their
weaknesses their capacities of
surengiht. He would chastise them,
if, ignoring their traditions and hic-
tory, they “lived among nameless
ruins" ihat might be inspiring memor-
iais, “You must found your own in-
stitutes; you must conduct your own,
affairs," ho would say, as he said to
the possibly wondering students of
Trinivy. To the young men of Irish
Ireland he would indicate in ever
luminous ways the development
“nunhood of mind.” He would give
his days to the task of making his
country self-radiant and strong at
every possibla point. Once moro he
would be contemptuous over the ad-
yocates of emigration; once again he
would characterize “assimilation with
England” as “cruel and chimerical.”
He would know that a normal Ireland
could support moro than ten millions
ot people; would not wait for
home government (deeply though he
saw its necessity), to foster Irish in-
dustry, to cultivate Irish art, to give
Trish talent field in Ireland, to
dovelop, in short, what Father O'Leary
would call Home Power. And can
you picture a Thomas Davis who,
though busy with Irish statesmanship,
art, and ipdustry, would stay outside
the Gaelic League or be tepid within
it? Can you picture a Thomas Davis
whose spirit were not aglow at,
sigoruideacht and coilidh who did
nol veatize the blas and brig and
vilel importance of the Irish speak-
ing districts, who could not see that
jour annual oireachtas shows the
flowering of Irish-Ireland, the per-
petuation of what is classic and crea-
tive in the story of the Gael? If thi
you can picture, read the “Essay
again, for you know not Davis.
And if there aro trends in our Ire-
land, and in some of it a finer insight
than in that of Davis, his Ireland on
the othor hand had traits and condi-
in the Famine graves, or passed away!
in minor horrors. To us they are his-
tory, nol present fact. And it is al
dongerous thing for men and nations.
not to know when the Past is past,
CHAPTER I.
a Worker and Teacher—A
Word on Irish Literature
Davis
‘he browd points of the biography
fe was born
England irom Wales. As a boy he
e and emotional.
yy College, which he once
he
taking history,
and philosophy as his proviuces, and}
proving eventually, as in his address
to the Historica! Society, that ho had
learned eaviy to think for himself, In
1838 he was calted to the Bar, but he]
“practiced” very ttle, His first
rary connection, moro or less, Was
wich the monihly Citizen, wherein
appeared his papers on “Udalism and
Feudalism,” and his account of the
Irish Parliament under James IL, a
work very valuable for its facts,
though showing nothing of his finer
temper. In 2840, wilh John Blake
Dillon, he edited the Morning Regis-
a severely financial and statisti-
¥, whose timid readers
y his bold and bright
consideration of subjects of large hu-
man interest. The work was soon
intensciy
and unfavorable, but in 1842, with
Dillon and Charles Gavan Duffy, he
established the congenial Nation. He
brought tw it unfailing enorgy, great
resource, vivid enthusiasm, The!
is to say that he has done much to
spiritualize his period, and it is no
extravagance to declare that some-|
thing of the kind was done by Thomas
Davis. The belief that he would in-
evitably have gone much farther on
Trish of the Irish lines had he been
spared gives a deeper pathos to the
fact of his carly death (of scarlet
fever) in September, 1845.
Nation is part of Anglo-Irish
history. ‘To thousands of young men,
and men not young, it was a source
of stimulation, and moro than that,
new vitality. Davis’ energy, ardor,
of mind and personality were
In no small way electrifying. His
leaders, essays, educational sugges-
tions, verses, have a living interast
more than fifty years later. He did
much, though he public knew him
Enter=1 5
literature, | 5
dent friond of the Gael, though ie did
not clearly seo that in Ireland the
Gael must lead, while welcoming all
friends of the Irish ideal as com-
rades. In a dozen respects he widen-
ed the ways of educotion, though
mainly in Anglo-Irish directions. He
wished to see Ireland deeply oon-
scious of her past, her possibilities.
A Protestant, he had toleration for
all creeds. Quick with ideas, he had
something of the philosopher's theory
thet the true romance of the future
would be genius realizing itself in
action. Unhappily, as already noted,
in his short life of stress and labor,
he did not advance with sufficient and
continued boldness the essential ideal
ot an Irish-spealing, Irish-thinking|
Ireland (with as many other lan-
guages as she pleased for profit or
for pleasure), though he suggested
and ied towards Every leader
from the days of Swift (who after a
fashion was a leader) had been mak-
ing the ghastiy mistake oz ignoring
the Gaol for all practical purposes.
However, dying after three years of
action, Davis left a name that
naturally and entiusiastically appre-
ciated by his countrymen, whether!
they put his faith into practice or|
not. His writings, done in the heat
of ardor, under the spell of fine rea-
son and well-tempered emotion, for 2|
popular journal, stand ‘high in the
Anglo-Irish record. Poems like ‘the
“Lament for Owen Roe” deserve the
warm place they possess in the Anglo-
a|Irish imagination. The Irishman, in-
dced, who is so happy as to be fairly
well acquainted with Irish literature
in its varying stages will be modest,
as Davis himself would be, in his esti-
mate of the literary work of Young
Ireland. Too many Irisamen, even
yet, have but scant acquaintance with|
the intelectual achievements of the
Irish mind as a whole. That whole
means many centuries, Even in Irish
Ireland today there are people who
know only certain sections of the
prose and verse in Modern Irish.
‘Those in Middle Irish and in the large
world of Old Irish are “sealed books”
to them, Others have found some idea
of the old, historic achievements in
the precious volumes put forth by
Celtic scholars of Germany and
France, and by a few in Ireland her-
selz, Others are able to go further,
and study much of the field tor them-
solves. A tolerable knowledge of the
whole ground gives one an animating}
sense of the national intellectual ca-
pacity. Of course, from the ninth
cemury or so, Ireland, at most points,
was fighting jor very Hie, first,
against the Northmen, and then
against the English. Even so, in
story and lyric, work was done and
sung, which Was often lovely of spirit,
tender with hints of the tears of|
things. From the colloquy between!
Guaire of Aidne and his brother Mar-
ban in the tenth century, with its joy-
ous delight in nature, to the beautital
and poignant “Clann Lir,” modernized
in the nineteenth, is a literary story
dear especially to Irishmen, but cap-
able of appealing to all who love:
human and spiritual revelation. Of
course it has been tho systematic aim
of English “eritics,” who have not
known one line of the work in the
original, to dec its value, Every-
thing lovely which God or man did
for Treland it has been the policy of
England, as a whole, to caricature.
8 circumstances, some of them.
palpably their own fault, have kept;
Trish thousands from the loving and
intimate Knowledge of ihat work.
Those who know it. and their number
Dn fail to sce.
Those whose ac:
is confined to;
that of Young Ireland and kindred,
ways, necessarily set an extravagant
value thereon. It has bi miliar
9 thom from childhood, and some of
t has touched their hearts, That is
no diserediit to them, quite the con-
trary, but it would not be fair to them
lo fail to point out that what they
mow is but, as some one said, a
parenthesis in the story of the in-
tellectual work done by Irishmen.
Furthermore, it is necessary to re-
member that with Davis, from first
to last, writing was just a means to 2
national or educational end. All the
same, some of his poems have real
verse and a gallant spirit. The heart
sang them. And it is no idle pic-
uresqueness to say that, practical
mn al worker that he was,
his life itself became a pocm.
a8
CHAPTER IIL.
The “Nation,” the “New Soul,”
the Old Language
Davis though: clearly, and set down
thought and maxims as terse as, but
safer than, proverbs on most salient
sides of nationality and Irish char-
acter as he saw them. No young stu-
dent who possesses anything of an
and
Irish mind and a nature capable of! >)
development can fail to be heartened
and strengthened and set working on
broader lines by the “Essays” (alas,
wo little known). They deal with
language, art, education, music, rec-
reation, the peasantry; their broad
, appeal is im their concoption of na-
tionality, of which Davis’ songs are,
so to say, a heartsome expression.
Before dealing with his main signif-
cance, his vision of nationality, we’
must touch one Young Ireland “le-
gend.” Davis and bis friends, w
not, to ennoble and solidify Anglo-
Irish Nife and energy. He was an ar-
haye been told a thousand times
brought “a new soul into Ireland.
tay, a brief, and a various ways an
on =|
This is wild generosity indeed, Men
in any case do not ‘bring new souls
into uations. They awake them or
light them; they show the mass of
the people what is in them, and thus
give them faith in themselves, In a
senso ithe greatest of men give us
nothing except light to see our own
capacities and a spirit to utilize them,
as the risen sun docs not create but
reveals the world and imparts to it
the heat essential to bring out its
own good and energios, from flowers
to the grain of harvest. In this world
of anany ironies and mysteries, men
and nations are sometimes inert and
mean, self-ioubting and trivial, mate-
rial and fretful. Suddenly, or it may
be graduadly, from some source an
inspiration comes; the individual or|
the nation seems new, full of splen-
did possibilities, Its finer self has
‘been brought to tho light. Man bas
the Kingdom of Heaven within him,
and all nations carry the Golden Age
along with them. The pity is that
they do not always know it. Some-
times great men or movements prove
this truth 40 them; they are happy
and noble so Jong as they realize it
and act accordingly. Few navions in
modern dimes have needed spiritual-
minded and deep-seeing men 10 as-
sure them of their high capacities
more surely than our Ireland, With
a acrrible and disastrous history, with
few opportunities of developing her
best in later centuries, she often
doubts or forgets herself, and falls
to courses that are paltry, imitative,
or compromising. Ireland, perhaps,
|was not so imitative, so ready to
adopt English fashions, while osten-
sibly an enemy to England, in Thomas
Davis’ day as she has been in our
own; but in one way or another she
bas been falling from herself aud|
imivating the foreigner since Keat-
ing’s tima Those who are students
of Irish may temember the scornful
Hnes in which—250 years ago—he
spoke of servile copying of “every
clown of this new race.” But more
or less imitative in Davis’ day, her
visible lot was poor indeed. Hor soul
was beginning to shiver, too; much of
her cnergy was unused or went in
channels that were growing stale and
ineffective. O'Connell's power ‘had|
come towards decadence. He had
never taken Gaclic Ireland seriously.
He had litle conception of the higher
and more spiritual side of nationality,
or of the factors that make it per-
manent. When we turn from him to
the social and intellectual realities
of Ireland at the time of the found-
ing of the Nation, wo come upon
somo chilling ground. The slate of the
land question, of education, of the
asantry, of talented youth denied
e vital opportunities of life in thelr
own land—it is a bitter and ugly
story. But it were 2 crude judgment
withal to declare that the soul bad
gone out of Ireland. It only wanted
an apostle. Dayls an apostle—to a
large degree. All honor to his mem-
ory for what he did, but we ought to
be clear, too, as regards what he left
undone. Some well-written sum-
maries concerning his perfod are too
partial altogether. The lines where-
on Davis worked so well are quite
graphical strated, but the his-
torians have no sense of a still more
important Ireland. Taere is really a
chasm between these later historians
and much more than half of the Tre-
land of the forties, For thoy are Bng-
Tish in thought and training, and the
jteland of Davis was largely Gaclic,
jthat is Trish, “About hait of te
lr ty at time spoke
r. Douglas Tyde in cer-
“Love Songs of Con-
* bul much more than halt of
eiand knew a great deal of Irish,
and even in many districts that were
seomingl the turns of
thought. the idioms, the spirit were
decisively Gaclic. In that old Irish
Ireland ‘of the forties there was a
dotighttul fireside life, a delightful life
of the heart, at the best. We who
know, st other things, some-
thing of the oral literature passed
vividly repicture it, Those who have
really grasped the great truths thal
are bound up with native Tanguases,
who know how closely tho spiritual
intellectual, and material des!
the people depend on such languages,
can see only too clearly now external
and alien was the English-written
Nation to that large and potentially
great Gaelic Ircland, and what dam-
age was done unconsciously through
the fact that che great popular paper
of the day conducted its propagand-
ism in English. Davis was right in
ls theories and ideas as to Irish, but
the Nation and Young Ireland did not
carry them out, or even attempt to
do so. Hence, it is no harsh juds-
ment to say that so far from bringing
a now soul gto Ireland the Nation
did little or nothing to foster and give
faith to the finest soul that was there
already. Davis declared that the for-
eign language is “the worst badge
ft conquest, the chain on the soul.”
ik
down to it through generations, can|&
IRELAND'S CLAIMS
EXCEL BOHEMIA
(Continued trom ¥ First Page)
stage of continental Europe; until
their revival in the last century they
had however sunk almost {nto ob-
livion, and ft is not surprising that
their very name still sounds strange
to so man;
Ircland’s Boundarlos More Distinct
The term Czecho-Stovak, therefore,
covers a body of people numbering
some nino millions, occupying a ter-
ritory in the northwestern part of
Austria-Hungary. The task of mark-
ing the outlines of the territory which
the new republic {s to control will
without question be a most difficult
one. There are no clearly-drawn
national boundaries such as Ireland
possesses. s they do a
district in the center of Europe, the
Czecho-Slavaks will be seen on the
map to shade off by slow gradations
into the other races who surround
them. Thus in Hungary where the
population ceases to be all Slovak
bogin places where Magyar settle-
ments mix with those of the Slovaks,
and this continues until the popula-
tion becomes wholly Magyar. Wher-
ever a line is drawn, it must either
ut off some of the Magyars from
their own people and place them
within the new State, or else it must
leave out some of the Slovaks. A
similar situation exists in the north
and west of Bohemia, where most of
the Germans, who comprise more
than one-third of the population of
that country, live.
In Ireland no such problems exist,
to trouble those who would restore
her to her place amoiig the nations,
Her ‘boundary is drawn by the sea on
every side; no such complex ques-
tions of nationality will bo involved
in her erection as an independent
State.
Bohemin’s “Home Rule”
Each of the provinces inhabited by
these Slavs has its own measure of,
local autonomy. In, Bohemia, for ex-
ample, there is a Dict consisting of
242 members. This body has con-
trol over local representative bodies,
the regulation of local affairs affect-
ing taxation, cultivation of the soil,
education, ecclesiastical and charit-
able institutions, and public works,
That {s to cay, Bohemia has long pos-
sessed a Parliament at least as ef-
fective as that which was offered to
Ireland under the so-called “Charter
of Irish Liberty"—the bill for the
velter government of Ireland. This,
however, does not deprive her of the
right to send no fess than 130 deputies
to the Austrian Parliament. Thus
her position is considerably better
than that of Ireland would have been
under (he most advantageous form of
“Home Rule” ever proposed in the
English Parliament. Now the Aus-
trian monarch has offered further
concessions. The Czechs are quite
right, however, in insisting on their
own right to determine the form of
government they are to live under.
But if Bohemia, which has had her
Tlome Rule Parliament and her
representation in the Imperial Par-
liament at the seme time, is justified
in refusing any further parloying
with Ansiria, Ireland, which has been
refused even such local self-govern-
ment, has the better im for placing
her ca no longer before England,
bul. before the nations of the world.
Tlapsburg Ruler Eleeted
The connection between Austria
and Bohemia, unlike that between
Ireland and England, established
not by conquest but vy election. Tn
or Italy on Norway or Americ: 3
3 ly stunt and distort the
whole mind of either people.
The language which grows up with
a people is conformed to thoir or-
, descriptive of their climate,
manners, mingled
constitution, and
inseparably with their
their soil, fied beyond any other
language lo ‘express their prevalent
| thoughts in the most taturo and eff-
cient way.
“To impose another language on
such a people is to send their history
adrift among the accidents of trans-
lation—us to tear their identity from
all placos—'tis to substitute arbitrary
signs for picturesque and suggestive
names—'tis to cut off the entail of
feeling, and separate the people from
‘agir foreiathers by a deep guli—tis
to’ corrupt their very organs and
abridge their power ot expression.
“A people without a language of its
own is only half 2 nation. A nation
should guard its language more than
its territories, ‘tis a surer barrier and
more important frontier than fortress
o
r river.
“How proudly and how nobly Ger-
many stopped tho ‘incipient creeping’
progress of French! And no sooner
He discussed plans for
Irish, and said 2 newspaper wholly
or partly in Irish was a necessity.
*/It did not come for about half a cen-
tury after the heyday of Young Ire-|
land. Let us see what he said of the
national language generally, and
imagine what the difference would
have been had the Young Irolanders
transiated his faith and theory into
ction:
“Ie not a full indulgence of its na-
tural tendencies essential to a people’s
greatness? Force tho manners, dress,
Ianguage, and constitution of Russla
had sho succeeded than her genius,
which had tossed in a hot trance,
sprang up fresh and triumphant.”
Today we can point to sundry other
cases. National language to some su-
porficial people seems a matter of
sentiment alone (and, by tho way,’
their conception of the beauty and
worth of true sentiment is also shal-|
low). Thousands now see with Davis
that it is am intensely practical, as
well as a spiritual question; that, in
fact, ft affects every fibre of the na-|
tion.
(To Be Continued Next Wook.)
history and)
THE FAIR TRIAL FUND
New York Committee Appeals
for Money to Defend Irish-
men Charged With Complic-
ity in the Fake “German-
Irish Plot”—Lawyers Being
Intimidated So That the Men
May be Left Without Proper
Defense
The following appeal for funds to
defend Irishmen who are being prose-
cuted here as part of the war waged
on the cause of Irish liberty has been
issued, so that they may secure a fair
tial:
New York, July 12, 1918.
Fellow-Citizens — Several Irishmen
have been arrested and held for trial
on various charges on account of their
connection with Irish aifairs.
Liam Mellows, Dr. Patrick Me-
Cartan, and Seumas McDermott Lave
been charged with obtaining passports
irregularly, Thomas Welsh is charged
with carrying letters as a means of
communication between men in this
country,and the men in Ireland.
Jeremiah A. O'Leary is awalting
trial for treason, and his brother John
is beiug tried as this appeal is writ-
ten on a charge of aiding his brother
in frelng from the jurisdiction of the
cou
‘Folin Gill, a man whose son is at
the front in France, has been held
incommunicado for several weeks
without any charge being made against
him, denied the right to communicate
with his sick wife and constantly in-
timidated to compel him to give evi-
dence against Jeremiah O'Leary,
which he solemnly declares he can-
not give. And now he is committed
for contempt of court for refusing to
testify before the Grand Jury,
The guilt or innocence of these
men will bo established before the
courts and when their cases are
Presented they will no doubt be given
a fair and impartial trial. But they
need able lawyers to defend them, and
tho first trial of John O'Leary has
revealed the fact that intimidation is
being practiced to prevent lawyera
from taking up the cascs of Irish clti-
zens charged with connection with
“plots.” ‘The newspapers have fre-
quently stated, on the authority of
officials of the Department of Justice,
that numerous arrests of Irish citi-
zens are to be mado throughout the
country on charges of complicity in a
“German-Itish plot,” which every in-
telligent Irishman knows docs not
exist. Here we have the evidence that
war is being waged on the Irish Ne-
tional Movemont on the pretense that
it is hostilo to the United States.
It is therefore necessary to insure
a fair trial for every Irishman charged
with complicity in this alleged plot;
and this can only be done by providing
them with able counsel and the other
necessary expenses of 2 trial. To ac-
complish this a large amount of
money is necessary, and it must be
taised by voluntary subscriptions.
A legal defenso fund bas been
started in New York to defray the
necessary expenses to insure these
men a fair trial and make certain
that all their legal rights are sate-
guarded. The undersigned have been
selected as a disbursing committec.
This fs an appeal which should
recommend itself to the Friends of
Trish Freedom and other ‘cindred or-
nizations, and we ask you to take
the matter up with your organization
and solicit subscriptions. ‘The case is
urgent, as we are called upon to pay
heavy expenses at once.
Checks and postoma
1064 Third avenue, New Yor
JONN DEvoY, Chairman,
YONS, Treasurer
1526 the estates of Bohemia elected
tho Hapsburg, Ferdinand I, as king
If, therefore, Bohemia has the right
to lissolve a convection brought
about by those who represented her
at the time, surely none can say that
Ireland has not tho right to deny a
Tule which was imposed upon her by
force, and whose rightiulness she has
never aimitted at any time through-
out her history.
‘Thoro are those who argue that
Ireland ought to rest content because
of somo litile material prosperity
which they allege sho has enjoyed
during the last fow years. -But if
thore has been any such prosperity,
it has come about not because of the
Englich rule, but in spito of it, and
solely through tho efforts of the Irish
people themselves, That it is not
much of prosperity is shown by the
fact that the population of the coun-
try has not ceased to decline during
the period when these alleged im-
Provements havo come about.
Feovomic Oppression of Ireland
But i? Ireland ought to be grateful
to England for whatever material bet-
terment tho Irish have enjoyed, sure-
ly then the Czechs, instead of secking
their independence, ought to fall in
Bratitude at tho feet of their Haps-
(Continued on Third Page)
Tho first public act of the British
when they entered Jerusalem was to
declare martial law from the steps of
the Tower of David in seven lan-
puages. More proof of the difficulty
some peoples have in understanding
British democracy.
