Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-07-09
Ireland's Opportunity

age, baked. Now, the necessities. Of
foreign war urging domestic peace,
Ireland is to have conventions ma
tional convention-which is to fix the
lines and terms of the long-coveted
Irish government deriving its. vitality
and complexion not from Westmin-
ster. but from Dublin. Hail h day.
May it bring a new birth Of freedom
to- Hibernia! .o ia,
First'of all it must bring the fullest
sense Of responsibility. Popular gov
eminent, according to the fine saying
of Elihu Root, sis organized self
control" That is a hard task to put
upon the average Irishman. He pos
sesses every gift except the gift of
patience. Centuries of wrong and out
rage Of many kinds have made him
mainly,a fighter. The racial repulsion
is. another force that always inter-
venes. The average Englishman is
Of the>e earth earthly. , He lis in public
affairs. little inspired by the poetry
of life. In his own interest he is
capable Of british things. The wit
and ~eloquence of. the 1mercurial ,Celt
doirnot move him. They have DOM
mated the Irish to their. own discom-
future. We are told that latterly John
Redmond has fallen out of favor at
home. If it be true. God help. Ire
land for his leadership has been the.
one single sane Irish leading since
that: of Parnell.. Accept%the conven-
tom remember Parnell, and follow
Redmond. God help the convention!
There is a destiny in these things.
Vein America ought to know some
thing about that. Why our war Of
sections? The south, as the most I'M
doubling of those of us who proudly
describe ourselves. as, Johnny Rebs''
now clearly see, had not a, leg to
stand on. Except. through foreign in
tervention--putting upon the new
world the mistakes and travail Of the
old. world-we are bound to lose. The
institution Of African slavery, poll
tically and morally ~untenable, was
doomed. Why should any Of us have
gone out to fight for it?
No people were better off in worldly
gear. Cotton may not have been king.
but it was a great commoner, and
there were-well, there. were sugar
and rice and niggers. The planter of
tial and material things. Yet, just as
the Junker in Germany was told he
must have his "place in the sum-" was
he told that he must have his rights
in the territories" What the Junker
will do when he comes to face the dis
asters that await him and that over
took the planter we shall see. What
eAAS pAohSS ~ wac ~ 1AlCCI VA oC-
feat and ruin like the man of brain
and heart he was; to turn from the
sword at nee to the plowshare; to
work and sweat it out in rags and
tatters till Fortune smiled again, as
Fortune, bless her dear old heart, did
finally. though, owing to the taking
off Of her friend and the south's
friend. Abraham Lincoln, she was a
little long about 1.-THE which is now
neither here, nor there, and we did
get some glory and heaps of expert
ence!
May the Irish in the coming
ton emulate the sublime wisdom Of
the people Of the south and have the
final good fortune which attended
their enlightened ~self-control. OPP
portunity has at last come to them.
II america is too far away to afford
them a tangible example let then, look
over the garden wallta at Caledonia and
recall that when the Irish lad who
had saved the daughter Of Dondas
from drowning was asked by the great
statesman what he might do for him,
receiving the witty answer, make
ma a S%cotchman," the willy Scot rs
wittily replies, g" Gamma gle We the
prudence"
That is the word for you, Patrick!
Prudencei