The San Francisco call., 1907-02-10
THE sINN FEN MOVEMENT

|
pulsive eloquence of his race. he
frankly discussed the Sim Fein move
ment and his part in it at the Balti-
more Hotel, where he registered yes
terday. He said:
Within six years Ireland will be
free The Sim Fein movement is
sweeping the mother country with a
flame which sets Irish patriotism afire
This country will be seething with II
in another year. Sim Fein grew ont
of the nonpolitical Gaelic Leag11e
winch decade ago began the work of
reviving the Irish language L was
| born IN Donegal. which was wholly
irish IN custom and thought and ira
dltlon, but / remember as a bow of 10
how it came to pass that to speak the
Irish language was considered vulgar
and mark of i'll breeding The Gaelic
League laid the foundation for our
present movement by changing all this.
A language which for fifty years was
almost dead has sprung into life again.
and with the revival of the tongue a
great change has come over the spirit
| of Ireland.
The @old league was non-political.
numbering Unionists among it's MEM
bers as we'll as the advocates of home
| rule The new league, the Sim Fein. is
strictly political In it are no Union
lists. l may safely say that every
|
a member
Slowly it took form out of the Ian
guage movement until, eighteen years
/ ago, 1t suddenly became the leadin Q.
factor in Irish politics. The results
have been wonderful. Irish industry
mas been revived along with the Ian
| guage; Irish tradition has come back
out OF the past as an inspiration for
| the nation; Irishmen have become
Irishmen again.
The time is att hand when Ireland
will have her own lawmakers in session
upon her own soil. All the young men
who have power and influence with the
people are working for the operation of
! the plan. The members of Parliament
| for Ireland will be elected as usual. but
they will not go to England They
VIII meet in Dublin with the presi-
dents of Irish universities and corpora
tions and declare themselves the rep
resentatives of a free nation
IRELAND's GREATEST MAN
The nominal head of the Sim Fein
! is Edward Martyr, one of the richest
men in Ireland, but the greatest man in
the country today is Arthur Griffith.
editor of the official organ of the Sinn
rem, called by that name, which signi-
! fles self-reliance. In my opinion this is
the nnest movement ever set on foot in
my country. The Sim Fein is follow
ing the example of Hungary and will
| triumph in the end
| Seumas MacManus is still young
man. His life has been replete with
romance and action since as a school
master in the little village where he
was born his occasional contributions
to current literature in the form of
simple folk stories attracted attention
| all over the English reading world.
| His environment was peculiarly suit
| ed for the study of old traditions as
Donegal was remote from the ordinary
currents of travel, and the people lived
closer to the manner of ancient Ireland
than those of any other community
| MacManus developed wonderful skill
| in delineating the character that he
found in quaint old Donegal and per
haps with the exception of his wife.
who was Ethna Carbery, no Gaelic poet
has SO powerfully described Irish
scenery and its element of mysticism.
Mrs. MacManus, who died several
years ago. was considered in her native
land the foremost poet of her day, and
| the romantic union between her and
the Donegal schoolmaster recalled to
many the love episode in the life of
Thomas Moore.