The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-08-19
AMERICAN PRESS DENOUNcES
EASEMENTS MURDER.
Continued from page 81

history.
Boston Globe: England cannot
break the vicious circle of her rela-
tions with Ireland by exacting the last
drop of blood to which statutes en-
title her.
With the passage of time much of
the severity of the punishment for
treason has decreased. In common
law man convicted of treason was
dragged to the place of punishment
on hurdle, then hanged by the neck
and finally taken down from the gal
lows while alive and disemboweled.
His body was then quartered. Today
conviction for treason does not neces-
sarily mean death. 1t may mean only
year of prison. The change in the
attitude of the government toward po-
litical offenders has been for the good
of the government, not for the benefit
of those who shall be found guilty.
That a government has the right of
self-protection is fair enough. That
the government use this right so mod
erately as to earn good will instead
of hostility is the essence of wisdom.
But England started frightfulness in
Ireland three months ago, and the
killing of Easement is natural and
inevitable sequel.
Chicago Tribune: De Wet did much
more than Pearse, Easement and the
other Irish leaders attempted, and his
punishment was mild He had less ex-
cuse than the Irish In one way. The
Union of South Africa has the politi-
cal freedom for which Ireland is strug.
Cling.
The De Wet case reveals the weak
ness of the British position with re-
gard to the Irish. The right of re-
bellion is fundamental right. Open
rebellion in arms against govern
ment not wanted by the people under
it is not a crime against law. 1t is
hazardous, and failure may mean the
loss of life, but the state which has
provoked the rebellion is warranted
in consulting political eXpediency. The
ground which was mentioned as the
only one for Easements reprieve was
the only one needed.
The use of clemency in dealing with
the leaders of revolt is not an inter-
ference with the process of law. The
state judges in each case what will
satisfy the needs of the state. That
is the object to be served. Few cases
will be alike, and law cannot be auto
matte.
The Federal government in Wash
ington did great service to the Unit
ed States when it did not execute the
leaders of the southern rebellion. If
Robert E. Lee had been a martyr in
the minds of the South the reunion of
states would have been delayed for
another generation.
Great Britain had punished the lead
ers in the Irish rebellion, and had
punished them severely. Finer men
than Easement had been shot. Injury
had been done true British policy. The
trouble with England and Ireland is
that the Tory English mind controls
both the English and the Irish when
Ireland is in the question The Tory
English mind thinks an Irish revolt is
immoral and criminal. 1t cannot es-
cape that way of thinking
Ii the Poles of Posen we're to revolt
against Germany, or. if the people of
Alsace were to revolt against Ger
many. the English would think the
rebellion glorious. The Prussianized
Poles have not written so much trag-
edy in history as the Irish, and tho
Alsatians have suffered nothing if Ire
land be considered as having suffered
at all. But England would regard an
.Alsatian revolt as heroic, and it re-
gards an Irish revolt as sordid, base,
ign0ble, and dastardly.
England will not admit guilt in Ire
land. England will not confess that
England has made Irish rebels. Eng
land could have stood before a SUI
preme Judgment bar and with truth
have confessed that Easement was her
creation; that she had made, formed
and inspired him; that his acts were
consequences of her acts; that the re-
sponsibility was hers and the guilt
hers. England made him; England un-
made him.
Political eXpediencey would have
been wiser guide than law. Great
Britain needs Ireland as a contented
part of the British empire. lrelands
best hopes will be realized when she
is a contented and self-governed part
of the British empire. 1t is the Eng.
lish, not the Irish, who stand in the
way of settlement.
Pittsburgh Dispatch: American,
opinion generally, and even a large
proportion of British opinion, believes
that the British government has blum
dered once more in its dealing with
Ireland by the hanging of Roger Case
ment. There was no doubt, of course,
of his acts. His trial was fair and
the sentence just under British law.
But the carrying out of it was i'm.
polite It has simply given the Irisl,