Evening star., 1912-08-26
WANT TO FEEL FREE.
Interpretation of Irish Senti-
ment by Catholic Bishop.
DENIES ENGLAND IS HATED
Antagonism the Inevitable Which
Separates Rich and Poor.


DUBLIN. August 26.-It was my good
fortune to spend a few days in the beau
tiful and happy south Of ireland with q
very remarkable Roman Catholic bishop.
This brilliant and engaging man is
chiefly famous as an authority on the
financial relations between Great Britain
and Ireland. Blue books are the staple
of his reading. as statistics are the pas
sion Of his life. But he is something
more than auditor to the human race and
financial expert Of the United Kingdom.
He is man who holds that life must be
controlled and directed; that it can be
made happy and secure.
One night, after dinner, we sat up till
past ) in the morning discussing the as
pect of the Irish question. So far as I
can remember it this was what he said !:
People in England do not understand
what is at the back Of our demand for
home rule. what is the spirit that ami
mates the Irish movement. They re-
member some extravagant utterance of
a Fenian. or some rather fiamboyant
piece of rhetoric calculated by a heated
politician in the excitement of debate:
and they think that we are inspired by
hatred of England-the whole movement
of Irish nationality inspired by hatred of
England!
What is the antagonism? 1t is eco
nomic: There is nothing here Of Celtic
hatred Tor the Saxon. or of Saxon con-
tempt for the Celt. 1t is natural. the
inevitable antagonism which separates a
rich industrial nation from q poor agri-
cultural nation. Unionist politicians main-
tain that the wholly antagonistic interests
Of the two countries can be combined,
can be made one They declare that the
British parliament can budget and legis-
late for two countries whose interests
talents and resources are entirely diffen-
ent.
Makes Comparison.
They might as well argue that the leg
islation and the budgets of Westminster
are equally suitable for Denmark or In
dia. Who would not smile IL a politician
suggested that a rich man should order
a poor man to keep house on the same
scale as his own? Must not the two
houses be separate in finance and man.
agement, even as they are separate in
bricks and mortar?
Let me give you two or three in
stances OF the blunders which come from
this discordant union. Take old age PEN
sions. In England shillings q week is
only just sufficient for the needs of an
old person; in Ireland it is too much In
England 1t is hard to get cottage under
= shillfngS week: in Ireland rents are
as low as 1 shilling 8 pence, even pen :e
a week. Two old people in England, a
WSch
each, can manage to live: in Ireland such
a couple are unnecessarily rich.
The tendency of taxation in England
Is toward wealth and wealth alone. Your
phrase the free breakfast table, means
that you want to relieve the poor of every
single tax in your budgets. You seek to
take on the toll on tea. on sugar, on cof-
fee. on currants, perhaps on tobacco.
Well. that is good, 1t is excellent-for a
rich country. But do you see what that
A.
continue. If the enactments Of your chan
cellor of the excheqLer are to apply to
Ireland equally with England, Ireland will
be dead, Improbable loss Of many mil
lions a year to the British treasury. Tha'
is inevitable. You will get a little from
the income tax, something from excise,
almost nothing from death duties and alb
solutely nothing at all from customs
Are you prepared for that loss? Do the
people of England care to pay all the bills,
are they prepared to fill Ireland's purse
and leave her free to enjoy herself?
Poverty and Ambition.
Consider, on the other hand, how
much more reasonable it is that Ireland
should keep house for herself. We should
economize, because we are poor We
should simplify, because We are not am
bilious. And we should arrange our taxes
to suit the means of our own people. We
should tax small incomes, levy death
duties on small estates, keep the taxes
on tea, coffee, sugar and tobacco; in
short. the direction and tendency of our
taxation would be toward that mark
from which yours is every year moving
further away. We should keep house as
Denmark keeps house, or as Belgium
keeps house, instead Of having our house
kept for us by the wealthiest and most
extravagant housekeeper in the whole
comfy of nations!
John Bright saw far into the soul OF
Ireland when he said: Throw the Irish
upon themselves; make them forget Eng
land We want to be thrown upon our
selves: we want to forget the long enmity
with England; we want to feel ourselves
responsible and free. 1t is our conviction
that the more you pay our bills, and the
more we hang upon you for our support,
and the more you take our destiny out of
our own hands, the more swift. the more
searching, the more pervasive will be
the decay of our Irish manhood. Anc
that is something We do not wish to see
decay. We are ready to pay for it, as
our fathers were ready to die for 1t.
We say to England, Trust us! leave US
to look after ourselves; we have busi-
ness to do in which you cannot take q
part, the achievement Of which instead
Of being danger to you will be source
of strength-it is the preservation OF
Irish character.
Would Eortifv Agriculture