The Washington herald., 1917-09-09

sisted, is to overthrow British naval
supremacy.
s.EngIand Is Beaten.
The Sim Fein leader hammered
home his points with dogmatic in
sistence. He would not argue. HIS
whole attitude expressed the char
acterization given him by George
Moore, the Irish novelist, who, wrote,
Arthur Griffith seems to me to be
ram. He is always butting."
Finally 1 said, But surely you will
admit that for this dream of yours
to be realized England must be COM
pletely defeated. that she would
never abandon her sea power by
setting ireland free to ally herself
with the enemies of England until
she was crushed"
Mr.. Griffith brought his fist down
on the table. In tones of absolute
finality, he said, England is beaten.
That We know here" The remark
ended the interview, and I said as /
went out, IT must pay you the COM
pliment, Mr.. Griffith, of remarking
that think the British made a great
mistake not to shoot you" He smiled
grimly and for the first time, and said.
Il thank you very much"
Eamonn de Valera found in his lit
tie home, one Of a typical row of
workmen's cottages in Munster street.
There could be no greater contrast
than between this young tirebrand and
the sombre, elderly Griffith. One
glimpse of de Valera and I under
stand how he has captured the i'm
agination Of his impressionable fol-
lowers. He was born. as he told me
later, in New York City 80 years ago.
OF Spanish father and an Irish
mother. At the age Of two months
he was brought to Ireland, and has
lived here ever since. Before he be-
came a revolutionist he taught math-
ematics. Tall and thin, with great
round piercing eyes that shine with
burning fire when he speaks OF the
cause" his personal magnetism is
that of a born leader. ] had heard
from loyal Irishmen of his deeds dur
ing the rebellion, how he had touGht
hardest of all the rebel leaders, now
he had planned the bloody ambush
Of the Sherwood Foresters and sur
rendered last of the Sim Fetn COM
manders, ever after the chiefs IN the
postoffice had yielded.
After some verbal fencing, ne con-
sented to talk, and soon plunged into
brilliant and burning recital OF the
wrongs of Ireland, the hypocrisy OF
England, the future of free Erin
! 1 soon saw there is strong toucn
Of mystery about this young man. Who
cares nothing for the odds against
him, and would prefer to hght WIN
the certainty Of defeat than not to
| hr1f in Ireland,
he said with fervor, would you get
OO0 men without artillery taking TO
| the roofs against 100000 trained SOL
diers with thousands of cannon? Tell
the Americans that while there are
men in Ireland who will die rather
than submit to tyranny, the struggle
will go on. The odds do not matter
What matters is self-respect. we
wore proud, as Irishmen, before the
| Rritish courts martials, in the Brit
! ish tails. We could not look our wom-
on in the face before we struck tor
| freedom"
| wouId Eliminate English.
! like Griffith, de Valera refused to
descend to details about the Sim rem
nrogram. The one thing that mat
| ters. he feels, is to get rid OF the
| English. What about Ulster?
/ asked. The Ulstermen will come in
he said. land make very little trouble
Give Ireland two months OF freedom
and there will be no Ulster difficulty
Ulster will not fight.'
DO you not feel" interjected dur
ing a particularly bitter denunciatior
| of England. that your release the
other day was an act which proves
| that England is not so bloodthirsty as
YOU say. Fear" de Valera cried
''They are afraid. That is why they
let US go,"
Regarding the prospects Of the con-
| rnntinr de Valera like Griffith, was