The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-10-26

so brilliantly as in this remarkable book.
 MT. CreeFs book has aroused the critics
 to action and while it would be interest 1 ing to reproduce all the Reviews" made
 upon the book lack of space debars that
 idea and so let's read what MT. Frank P. Walsh has to say and also MT. Everett P. Wheeler.
 Says MT. Walsh:
 Every American with Irish blood In his veins should read George Creefs book. All Americans who want the truth about Ireland should read the book. It is writ l ten as only George Creel can write when he writes from his heart No more un- answerable argument against English
 rule in Ireland was ever made; no clearer. finer presentation of the Irish cause was ever framed. The book is worth an army to Ireland.''
 The title of this book is a misnomer. It should be 'Ireland's Fight for 1ndepen- dence." It is admirably adapted to de- feat the object it was designed to ac- complish. If there ever was a question for the solution of which good temper, fairness and mutual understanding were necessary, it is the Irish question This book contains a violent attack upon the English government dilating vehemently upon all the i'll it has done to Ireand dur ing eight centuries, and emitting entirely any reference to the good. Laws which oppressed the Roman Catholics and de- priyed them of most civil rights are con- demned No mention is made of the fact
 that many of these laws applied to Eng
 land as well as to Ireland. No mention
 is made of Catholic emancipation, and of
 the fact that for 90 years the Roman
 Catholics in Ireland in all civil rights
 have stood on the same plane with their
 Protestant brethren. The old navigation
 laws, the tariff taxes, which were once
 l T <,F
 Irish goods, are condemned. No refer
 ence is made to the fact that for 70 years
 and more no such taxes have been laid.
 and Ireland has been under the same free
 trade system as England herself It is
 much as if history of the black race in
 America were to be written and the
 author should dwell upon the horrors of
 the slave trade, and the cruelties of the
 Slave Code, and omit altogether the proc
 lamation of emancipation and the thir-
 teenth amendment
 The absentee landlords are denounced,
 but no mention is made of the many land
 owners who were not absenttes, as for ex
 ample. the Edgeworths, whose relations
 with their Irish neghborss were most
 friendly and in every way helpful. Nor
 does the book refer to the land acts of
 1870, 1887. and especially the land pur-
 chase act of 1903, creating a commission
 
 them to tenants, thus creating peasant
 proprietary, and to assist the tenants by
 means of a government loan" These
 bills have been put into effect and over
 eS3. GOO have been advanced from the
 British exchequer to the great advantage
 of Ireland
 This one-sided method leads the author
 into amusing contradictions of which he
 seems quite unconscious. He says on one page that the industries of Ireland are
 crushed by British legislation, and on another that the trade of Ireland in 1915 amounted to sS62 0O0,0o0 His chapter, Gan Ireland Stand Alone?" is a graphic de-
 scription of the ability and success of the Irish people, yet on another page he describes the country as destroyed, de- populated and impoverished" On the very last page he declares that as re- suit of one of the invasions, 300 years ago, the people of Ireland were killed off, men, women and children, and he has shock ing story of dead bodies lying by the roadside, with not ! single person visible in whole counties; yet he admits on an- other that there are still 4,500,O00 persons in Ireland and declares that in the United States there are 100000 descendants of Irshmen.
 In order still further to give bitterness to his indictment he brings in the war of the Revolution, and goes so far as to say that half of the soldiers who fought on the American side in that war were Irishmen, and that. the colonies would have been subjugated had it not been for them. From this the truth of his version of Irish history may fairly be judged. He justly praises the bravery of the Irish men who fought on the Union s/Ie in the civil war, but omits to state that Irishmen in the Confederate ranks were equally brave. We gladly honor the heroes Of that race. who have shown undaunted courage in every continent. Curiosly enough, although whenever the Irish get into another country they are brave wise and successful. they have never carried on successful revolution in their own The revolution which they attempted as recently as 1916 is thus described by the author: Easter Sunday, April g, was the day set for the rebellion, but, as al- ways in the past, plans went awry. and the old tragedy of blunders. cross-pur- poses, and counterorders was played out to the bitter end" Does not this prove that in the various Irish insurrections the wisest and most skilful IrisAmen have taken no part?
 Another curious inconsistency ;s in the fact that Mr. Creel claims self-determina- ion for the people of the whole island. and yet refuses it to the people of the province of Ulster Except for a very brief period under the exigencies of the Danish invasion, this province in Ulster was never united under on government with the rest of Ireland until it became lnited undr the British rule. It is cer- ainly just as much entitled to a choice ! IS to whether or not it will remain under | he existing system as are the other | provinces of Ireland to decide whether hey will have home rule. It is clear that hey ought to have it. This is admitted | 'y the best English statesmen. It was | advocated by the great Irish statesmen irattan. Burke, Parnell, Mccarthy and | Redmond. It has been embodied in an -ct of Parliament. This, act of Parlia- nent has not yet been put into effectJ ecause of the controversy over Ulster t is hard for an American to see any justification for the attempt to compel lister to submit to the rule Of the other rovinces of Ireland, when it is satis- ed to remain as it is. MT. Creel uses ome juggling of figures to support his laim that Ulster is not as unanimous n this subject as has been maintained. n doing this he counts together the Nationalist vote and the Sim Fein vote t the last legislation, but as we all khow he Nationalist vote favors home rule ut is opposed to secession. The Sim 'einers are secessionists Their whole i'm is the complete independence of Ire md.
 It seems obvious to any fair-minded Ian who will look at the subject dis assionately that it is impossible for Eng md to concede this. The situation of le two islands is such that if the small IT of the two should come under the ontrol of a foreign power 1t would be