Norwich bulletin., 1917-08-20
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A Final Word For Cause of Ireland.

movement, nevertheless l have made a deep study of it. and it has given
 me an insight into what Ireland wants If you will give me this final hear ing. I will be done with it.
 No rule, however good, can be a substitute for elf-rule. This is the only attitude of mind to bring to the Irish problem, yet it is precisely this viewpoint that has been singularly of governing Ireland. The uprising has entirely changed the face of Ire land. It has forced back from con
 stitutional channels the whole tide of public opinion.
 The war cry. For small nations!" has awakened old echoes in Ireland, the great war, altering as it is the en-
 tire face of Europe. has left it's marks
 upon Ireland. or rather has revived partly effaced images.
 Swift revolution by violent methods fas taken the place of peaceful evo- lution: a people, that in normal peace
 times would have been satisfied with freedom by installments from home rule to federal or colonial self-govern
 ment to complete freedom. is now de- sirous of striding over the interven- ing steps and attaining at bound absolute emancipation. This is the penalty that England has to pay for
 delaying settlement long overdue she has failed to keep step and now must be forced over the ground.
 Parnell declared twenty odd years ago, in refusing to consider any home
 rule scheme a final settlement of Ire lands demand: "No man can set
 bounds upon the onward march of a nation. The real. the deciding factor today in the settlement of Irelaad's fu-
 ture government, is not EnEland, but Ireland herself. Any solution that overlooks or fails to satisfy Irish de- mands cannot be final. The Irish peo- pie themselves-that is. the adult pop ulation, men and women-must be the final arbiters as to how they are to be governed.''
 At the outbreak of the war Wis count Grey declared that Ireland was
 the one bright spot" in the British
 empire; today Premier Lloyd George declares that feeling in Ireland today
 is more bitterly 'anti- British than
 ever 1t was in the days of Oliver Cromwell
 This change in sentiment has been effected by the uprising; and by the
 methods used to suppress it, and by the subsequent regime of persecution and martial law enforced in Ireland.
 A military dictator has superseded the civil authority; trial by jury for po- litical offences has been suspended, all public assemblies are under police sanction, the Irish press has an ad- ditional or more stringent censorship, and free speech and public opinion impossible. These factors must be
 reckoned with by those who propose to face the Irish problem with a view to understanding. if not solution. If all these measures arc deemed | necessary for the Defence of the
 Realm, as is alleged: then it is clear
 attempt to minimize the strength and power of the Irish republican party. It was fatal blunder to pass over this party before the rising, to class
 them as a negligible minority with
 mere mosquito press" and downfall
 to constitutionalism and the Irish par
 ty has been the consequence.
 That negligible minority is giving
 hny11 m nd rt1rf
 to press" has stung the body politie/ in
 to fever which cannot now be all
 layed by any parliamentary panacea-
 It has been said by a British states
 man that if the latest proposal of set
 tiement by constitution failed; then
 God help us-a confession of bank
 ruQtcy of English statesmanship.
 The sim F'ein party has publicly
 out the defects that mark its charac-
 ter and demanding a referendum of
 the adult population to decide the
 question. Failing in that (the other
 side knows too well the answer of a
 referendum in this easel.
 The Irish republican party prefers
 to wait until the peace conference a the end of the war in order to bring
 the Irish question before it for in
 terna tional decision on the basis of the
 other small nations. It is true the Irish party and the Unionist party
 has accepted the convention idea. but
 they no longer represent Ireland. A
 general election tomorrow-the so- called Sim Fein party would sweep
 the country. ye-elections have dem onstrated this by returning Sim Fein scandidates pledged to ignore parlia- mentary methods, and to avoid the British house of commons in consti- tuencies where for the last twenty five years the Irish party nominees had been returned unopposed. These con tinued victories at the polls after over twenty-five years of uncontested cleo II dications of the sweeping revulsion of sentiment against the Irish party in favor of Sim Fein-against home rule l and for complete independence. in asmuch as the vote by which these i men are elected is a property" vote, | a vote of the older and more conser- Vative element in rural constituencies where the peasant or purely agricul- parliamentary vote in the United Kingdom, depends upon the property qualification. the British government having a more reactionary franchise states
 The Sim Fein element being the | more progressive, is still more largely | represented among the younger ele- | women, those who do not enjoy the | privilege; in fact, of voting for par liamentary candidates. The wider the | franchise the stronger would be their l in the cities and towns than in the | country, among the better educated | and thoughtful than among the more | backward. They stand for higher | ideals in civic life and are opposed to the corrupt political elements found in the older parties. They possess therefore a dynamic force that is rr-k- | ing itself increasingly felt throughout | Ireland. and while the power and pres II tige of the older parties are on the II wane the new movement for independ- II ence gains every day more recruits ii tions of Ireland's grievance, govern ment by force, the present regime of martial law and government by con- sent within or without the British em- pire.
 Each solution has it's supporters in Great Britain and Ireland, some pro- pose waiting until there is perfect agreement between all, that would be idle and futile. for that will never be