The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1916-04-30
UNDERNEATH THE IRISH re-
VOLT

IL seems passing strange that
while the flower Of Irish manhood
has enlisted, willingly and enthu-
siastically, in the cause Of the Brit
ish empire, there should yet be the
possibility of such an outburst Of
disaffection as the last few days
have witnessed. Yet even a casual
understanding of Irish history fur
nishes the explanation and makes It
clear enough.
The Irish people had no occasion
to love Britain or the British people
for several centuries. Political and
economic oppression brought about
a state Of affairs that, at the middle
Of last century, was accentuated by
the famine and the exodus of half
Ireland's population. The British
nation even then could not and
would not understand, and oppres-
sion still continued.
American Irishmen are chiefly the
descendants Of those emigrants of
the later half Of the nineteenth CEN
fury. They brought with them their
hatred Of England, and they have
not all discovered that, modernly,
England has adopted new and en-
lightened attitude toward Ireland.
They have let the old hatreds rankle;
but they are hating a generation of
Englishmen that has passed along.
The Ireland of today is one Of the
most prosperous countries in Europe,
due to the workings of enlightened
laws that have enabled the farming
community to buy back it's lands
with government credit, and that
have wrought a wondrous revolu-
ton in the face of the community.
Industrially and agriculturally alike,
the island has been restored and re-
vivified.
So it comes about that the Irish
men in Ireland have been growing
away from their ancient hatreds and
prejudices. But not enough time has
passed, under the new order, to have
won them all over. The Irishmen
whose hegira, a generation and two
generations ago, was a protest
against the conditions of those
times, have not seen or known the
change in Ireland. These, and their
descendants, plus the still unrecon-
structed haters remaining in Ire
land, constitute the anti British
party.
Then there is a complication be-
cause of the religious division. Ul-
ster is a Protestant province; the
other three are Catholic. Ulster OBJ
jects to being ruled from Dublin by
an Irish Parliament in which it will
have only a minority. The home rule
measure, passed shortly before the
European war began, provided such
a scheme, and Ulster threatened
civil war rather than accept it. u
ster objected to being the submerged
minority in a Catholic Irish govern
ment; precisely as Ireland had for
merly objected to being the sub
merged minority in a Protestant
United Kingdom government.
Out of all these difficulties and a
thousand and one complicating cir
cumstances, developed the situation
which, abetted and incubated by
German influence and interest, has
brought forth the revolt. 80.
Britain could put down the revolt
easily enough; but the problem is to
accomplish that as gently as pos
'sible; to leave the least possible ran
cor; to handle the situation with
kid gloves, and soil them with no
unnecessary blood.
John Redmond, leader of Irish
Nationalists, and Sir Edward Car
son, leader of the extreme Ulster
men, were at each others threats
two years ago. Today they stand
together for the government against
the revolutionists. They both under
stand what the government is try
ing to do for Ireland; they both know
that, in this juncture, a revolt means
throwing away what Ireland has
gained in recent decades; means to
leave it's last state worse than it's
first. There could hardly be a more
fatuous, ill-conceived, or certainly
futile enterprise than that into
which Irish zealots and German plot