The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-04-03
SIR ROGER EASEMENT
Quotations on the Posi-
ton and Condition of
Ireland bynoted cham
pion Of Irish Cause
On whose life Great
Britain has placed a
Price.

0ISsOAA4 A100 S10S0O u
Price.
It is only the truth that wounds. An
Irishman today in dealing with Eng
lishmen is forced, if he speaks truly,
to wound. That is why so many Irish
men do not speak the truth. The Irish
man, whether he be peasant, a farm
laborer, however low in the scale of
Anglicization he may have sunk, is
still in imagination, if not always in
manner, gentleman.
Almost everything that ireland pro.
duces, or consumes, must all 90 out or
come in solely through England and on
payment Of transit and shipping tax
to English trade.
The late John Richard Green, one
Of the greatest of English historians,
was attracted to Ireland by a noble
sympathy for the fallen which he
shared with very few of his country
men. We are told that he sympathized
with the spirit of Irish nationality.
"a State" he would say, "is acci-
dental; it can be made or unmade;
but a nation is something real which
can be neither made nor destroyed"
He had once planned a history of
Ireland, "but abandoned the idea be-
cause the continuous record Of misery
and mis-government was too painful to
contemplate" The wrong of unshape-
ly things is wrong too great to be
told. All pleasure lies in contrast.
The history of Ireland offers no con-
trast; it is a tale of unmitigated
wrong.
It is too full Of graves, and the
ghosts are not laid yet. As we'll write
the history Of graveyard.
Byron denounced the union between
Engiand and ireland as 'tt,e union Of
the shark with it's prey"
During the Crimean war the allied
British and French navies distinguish
ed themselves by their signal failure
to effect the reduction of such minor
fortresses as Sveaborg, Helsingfors
and the fortified lighthouses upon the
Gulf of Finland. Their respective Ad-
mirals fired their severest broadsides
into each other, and the bombardment
of the forts was silenced by the smart
interchange of nautical civilities be-
tween the two flagships. Nopoleon III,
who sought an explanation of this fail
ure of his fleet, was given reply that
I cannot refrain from recommending
to the British Admiralty today. "Well,
Sire," replied the French diplomatist
who knew the circumstances, "both
the Admirals were old women, but
ours was at least lady,"
An Independent ireland would, of
itself, be no threat or hurt to any Eu-
ropean interest. On the contrary, to
make Of ireland an Atlantic Holland, a
maritime Belgium. would be an act of
restoration to Europe of this the most
naturally favored of European islands
that Peace Congress should, in the
end, be glad to ratify at the instance
of victorious Germany. That Ger
many should propose this form of dis
solution of the United Kingdom in any
interests but her own, or for the
"beaux yeux" of Ireland, do not for
a moment assert. Her main object
would be the opening of the seas and
their permanent freeing from that
Overwhelming control Great Britain
has exercised since the destruction of
the French navy, largely based, as all
naval strategists must perceive, on the
unchallenged possession of Ireland.
That Ireland is primarily an Euro.
pean island, inhabited by an European
people who are not English, and who
have for centuries appealed to Europe
and the world to aid them in ceasing
to be politically controlled by England,
is historic fact. And since the transla-
tion of this historic fact into practical
European politics would undoubtedly
effect the main object of the victorious
power, it is evident that, Great Britain
once defeated, Germany would carry
the Irish question to an European so.
luton in harmony with her maritime
interests, and could count on the sup
port of the great bulk of European
opinion to support the settlement
those interests imposed. And If politi-
cally and commercially an Independent
and neutral Irish State commended it.
self to Europe, on moral and intellec-
tual grounds, the claim could be put
still higher.
In the indulgence of an agreeable
self-conceit which supplies for him the