The sun., 1919-10-12


longer a free man.
TO all these men comes day by day
the voice from the cloud: "will you let
my people go7" It comes insistent
In newspaper paragraph, in Atlantic
cable. In dreams: "wil you let my
people go?" England begins to be-
iieve she will have the seven plaques
II she does not let them go. She begins
TO believe that God really does love
the Irishi For tho first time she is
afraid. She will let them go-but
with the cord Of compromise around
their ankles.
There Is one man who might even
at the eleventh hour save the tragedy
impending. but he could only do it II
he were Prime Minister, with free
hands. and at the head of a united
party. But Lord Northcliffe is not
Prime Minister. He has always pre-
ferred the position of the strong, silent
man behind the scenes, who pulls the
strings of the figures in the limelght.
But events may yet force even the
nands OF the one man IN England who
at the moment is strong enough and
Independent enough to give her lead
on Ireland. and one day we may see
him Prime Minister, but II will then be
too late. at is he who has put forward
the Times Home Rule scheme.
Carson Cries ORATOR"
This Times scheme of devolution-it
Is not really Home Rules the out
standing fact Of the Irish politics of
our time. That it could be put for
ward is to show the revolution In the
English viewpoint on ireland. 1t has
led to Sir Edward Carson, who will
probably shortly visit America, attack
ing Lord Northcliffe as traitor" be-
cause he has changed the unchange-
able-the Times policy Of q century.
He has threatened before to raise the
country" But Sir Edward, honest
fanatic that he is, has outlived his
time. The hour is Ireland's, not
listers. England will not hear him.
What about Ireland herself? with
the exception of about 10000 in Ulster,
practically the whole of Ireland to-day
is Sim Fem. Six years ago there
were literally not 10000 Sim Feiners
in Ireland. When visited Dublin the
year before tho war they we're re-
garded as madmen and impossibilities.
To-day they have won the soul of
Ireland-and with It the world outside.
The official Nationalists sit In corners
and bite their nails. Even when Dew
lin, big little man that he is, brings
forward his scheme of proportional
representation nobody looks up. When
Plunkett launches his imperial devolu-
ton scheme Ireland smiles. Ireland
will have all or nothing. For the SUBJ
jective Ireland, that is the determine
tive ireland, Is always extreme and
idealist, and under stress rises above
the threshold Of consciousness to sur
prise the world.
Programme IL Constructive.
Instead. Ireland has put out the Slim
Fem constructive programme. which
a prominent American lawyer told me
the other day could be taken to any
bank in Wall Street and money raised
on 1t. Behind that programme is the
brain of the movement-Arthur
Grinth-for de Valera Is only the
inspirer. This man Griffith, a dis
tinguished American said, could.
with his brilliant brain, earn any
where in America $500 q week-in-
stead. he prefers a darned shirt and
poverty. In the last rebellion, Lsrkin
had Connolly behind him-but the
world heard only of LArkin. De
Valera has Griffith. though It Is de
Valera, not Griffith. who keeps the
wires burning.
How far the constructive side of
Sim Fein has gone is shown by the
Times. which gives serious consid-
Grafton to its financial propositions.
which, however, 1t criticises strongly,
as being "jejune' and ineffective"
Whether the Times be right or wrong.
the lack In ireland is not martyrs
Ireland has never lacked men to die
for her, what she needs are men who
will live for her-but mon and women
used to the ways OF the big world
outside who can think internationally.
That IL one Of the stumbling blocks
of Sim Fein.
So much for the orientation Of Ire
land to the Empire. Now for the
thing that Is coming.
Revolution Is Possible.
believe that Grifith and de Valera,
although do not know either the one
or the other. feeling that the hour,
which, II allowed to pass, may not re-
turn. has come, the psychological mo-
ment when ireland has the ear Of the
world, are determined to put all on a
throw of the dice. They know, none
better, that the young Irishmen who
have been drilling have not a dogs
because the machine gun has
made successful rebellion impossible
in our times-but II the solution does
not come In some other way out Of the
lap OF fate--and they know the solu-
ton for which they are hoping-I be-
lieve they are determined to plunge
ireland within a short time into a
bloody revolution that will focus the
eyes Of the world--a hopeless holo-
caust in which the flower of her man
hood will debut in dying viii so
shock the conscience of the world that
the giving OF self-government to Ire
land will become imperative.
To many OF US who love Ireland,
that is a terrible responsibility. To
those Of US who believe that in the
age of democracy the time of the
sword has passed and the time Of the
spirit come-who believe that the force
Of ireland has always been a spiritual.
not a physical, force-this decision, II
my forecast prove to be fact, can only
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