The Irish standard., 1917-12-08

under a Government probably-won't
say as bad as any nation suffered
from, but very bad-so bad as to be
quite intolerable, so that any body Of
young men who have the gift of
speech and who, above all, have made
any sacrifice in the cause, who ad-
dressed themselves to their fellow
in passionate denuncia-
tion of the Government, and professed
to show them q road by travelling
along which they can overthrow the
measure Of success; and following
this phenomena we have before lis to-
day-and we are apt to run into very
great mistakes which may
be disastrous if we forget for single
moment the true explanation Of the
in Ireland. read with
very great interest the long rigmarole
of resolutions passed at the Sim Fein
Convention last week in the Mansion
House, and I recognize old friends.
(Laughter.) Why, these resolutions
have been passed every year for the
last fifty years. (Hear, hear, and ap-
plause.) We all know the able hand
of Mr.. Arthur Griffith. He has been
that doctrine for Is years,
and he never got any considerable
body of the Irish people to listen to
him. What has created the enormous
change? 1t is not that Mr.. Griffith
has converted them to his doctrine;
and His Men
who have brought about this mighty
change applause)-and say it here
tonight to you with all earnestness:
it is essential that the Irish people
should understand that it is the Brit
ish Government in this country, who
have created Sim Fein and made it
the formidable body it is-Chear, hear)
and what fills me with apprehension
and anxiety as to the future of this
country is this: this great wave of
passion has been taken hold of by men
not by Mr.. Arthur Griffith or by
Mr.. John McNeill-we saw what the
power of these men was at the Con-
vention. Do you suppose for a single
that Mr.. A. Griffith, who
signed himself the other day as the
father of Sim Fein, would step down
and out for De Valera if he had dared
to face him? The verdict of this Con-
vention was that the man who had no
confidence either in John MacNeill or
in Arthur Griffith was in control of
the new movement. What did we see.
Arthur Griffith stood up to defend
John MacNeill for trying to stop the
insurrection of Easter week, as he
now frankly admitted he did try. We
all know he did his best at the last
moment. Arthur Griffith stands up
and defends him at the Convention,
and he says, II stand or fall by John
MacNeill." "Are we," he said, Ito be
told that he was criminal because
he did his best to prevent holocaust
being made of the young men of Ire
land?" That is what he called Easter
week-a holocaust of the young men
of Ireland. never used such A term
about Easter week. In those words
he condemned it much more strongly
than ever. l condemned it, because
I must confess, and I am not ashamed
to confess it, that l shrink from the
condemnation of men who had the
courage that these men showed on
that occasion. The words stick in
my throat if attempt to condemn it.
Arthur Griffith did not hesitate to
condemn it, to speak of it as 4 holo-
caust, and he defended in, the strong
est possible way John MacNeill's at
tempt to prevent the insurrection.
say these men have condemned Easter
week as strongly as we have, and by
what right of honest politics do they
go about this country.
Exploiting Easter Week for Political
Purposes
when they condemned it as unjustifi-
able and lauded the exertions OF men
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