The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-25

tne British Government is rapidly
 gettlng to close quarters. There has ththerto been a good deal of postur- , !hs' naneuVering for position it might l pc called, on the part of the several ] leaders There has, it is true. always
 been good deal of unrealfty about
 these maneuvers.
 The on-looker at all events cou1d
 not regard them with any degree of
 serlousness, for while Sim Fein made
 ah aSSefuVe appearance of fighting
 the powers of the British Government
 m Ireland, no one could for a mo-
 ment forget that the British Gov
 erhment with it's mighty reserves of i troops all over the country. could at
 any moment strike out and deal a | deadly blow. It was a case of inc | elephant and the mouse. There was 1 iio denying that the elephant might | at any moment lift it's mighty foot 1 ana crush forever its puny adver
 sary. | mat is, of course, speaking entirely
 rom the purely material aspect of
 tnlnss- England's military power at | the moment in Ireland is overwhe11o-
 ing. Every corner of the country has
 It's garrison, it's quota of tanks, ar IhoFeo cars, aeroplanes and machine suns. On the other side nothing can
 
 | ton of Sim Fein, for by proc1aT77a- ton of the British Government these orsanlzations have now been proE7ihi+- ca ana rendered illegal. This how ever uoes not mean quite the same as II they ceased to exist. It is 1n- iortunateIy the experience of the nast that 10 prohibit or declare Illegal ar1y particular organization merely had ,, tne eliect or strengthening it's num- oets ana It's determination It did not appear on the surface to bova any hre, but although it was ob1ieeo
 lo ourfow into the earth. it no less survived and grew and carried on i+s purposes. Such is the case with Sim rem at present In many countries u mas been specifically declared iI1e- gal and now the DaiI Eireann. the republican Parliament, has been nro- hibited '7 "oeii pro
 NeeoIess to say, it does not follow rom all these proclamations and 9uppresslons that Sim Fein and Dai1 Elreann will immediately be+.1,o themselves out of the country. Notb1 ing Of the kind.
 s1nn F'ein absolutely denies inc rlght of the British Parliament +o suppress the Dail Eireann. As well says Sim Fein, might the Dali Ri, reann declare the suppression of tba orItsh Parliament at Westminster as lor the latter to suppress the Dali Hi i teahn. There is, of course, this diff 1 Lerehce' that the British Parlianenr
 sas tile material power to carry it's [ proclamation into effect while ob V1ously the DaiI Eireahn has not
 Slnn Fein's reply to this is +b,4 Ehgland's might does not necessa riI1, conIer the right and that she has ro HioTe rlght in Ireland than Germanv nad in Belgium. England denounced .iIe policy of might is right, when It was asserted by Germanv hut practlces the same policy in Ireland nerself- Sim Fein further holds thai i. S not Tn the power even of Eng ,alu hlght to crush Ireland. She may by her overwhelming earrfeo,, or occupation, over awe n,a+eeisI T.o tdha but she cannot suppress Ira lahds soul The Sim Fein aro,,r,e,,+ urther holds that Dali Eireann is hut 1 Llateflal symbol of Ireland's sou1 T+ !9 the expression of the nations fool anu as such it may be perhaps inundated but cannot be crushed
 Da1l Eireann is, the Sim Feine,,s Clal11l, the expression of IreIand's sa1f- t,e erhlinatlon. It is the outcome of le general election held in December or last year under the auspices hf +ho
 1-cSAAACl1l | elections were duly carried out accord;na to tne rules and. regulations imnosad lHfoughout tho United Kingdon, and the result was that 73 of those ro turned out of 104 declared +be,,, serves as denying altogether the rigb+ oL England to occupy this countr, !hey accordingly, as the great ma !orlty Of the elected representatives deo to 4I. lhat no longer would they g6 Io the British Parliament, but tha+I
 would set Up in Dublin a ParIia.- 1.ent po- TOT thelr own country To this drliafnent they inivted all the other representatives who had been ret1,rn- ca Tor Irish constituencies hut ro,,o or these attended. The Parliament o1. government was accordingly foro,e5 "lthout them. This was the e,e,os;fs ' of the Dail Eireann.
 III US dealings with this new Par llanent the British Government has .i1 ton Lor which to blame itself: It ano"eo the Dali Eireann to meet even In public; it allowed if +o ga through the pretence of annoirtine. ministers and of making all arrange. t inents for the taking over of the ,oy.. t I ei !iiiielt or the country. It allowed cii1s 10 go on for over six months ( o4liS when the Dail Eireann was nre caring 10 issue a loan for a uuarter u million pounds for the purnose Of $ carrying on the government did tba E br1tlsh executive strike ont Eve, | ms strike was clumsily and ineffect- U uaIiy made. It was not the Dali that ;, was proceeded against, but the-nayvs- papers which published the nrosnac- JUS or the loan were suppressad ]. opYlously the proper thing to do = "ou!d have been to declare the Re. z publican Parliament illegal from inc c oeslnn1ng and to prohibit the pub1ica- . .lon or all matters connected with IT . Lhls would at all events have made if ;iear 10 the. newspapers where tI7ev fl 'tood. AS it was, publishers saw mai. n CTS connected with the Dali passed ir or publication while the censorsbin il sxlsted and it was not clear how far c ne permission might have been sriva,, ID then suddenly, when dhe loan pros. W 'eelus came along as an advertisa V nent, the newspapers which publisb- it "a II were swooped upon. At 1east g me or these, the Cork Examiner. had K 70 sympathy with Sim Fein, but he- b 'ause It accepted the advertisement Us publication was stopped and the u