New-York tribune., 1919-12-05
Clergymen and
Member of Parliament
Present Views, Asking
Law, Order and Fair Plav
CallOpponentsB Bolsheviki
Do Not Seek Financial Aid
Nor Strive to Make Sec.
tartan Appeal, They Say

Here to tour the United States in the
interests of Anglo-American friendship
and to combat the teahcings of Eamon
de Valera, president of the Irish Re-
public six Protestant clergymen and
Member of Parliament from Ireland ar
rived yesterday on the Anchor liner Co.
lumbia. They declare Bolshevism is back
Of the anti-British movement in Ireland
William Coote, member Of Parla-
ment from South Tyrone and a Pres
byterian, headed the delegation. The
other members were the Rev Alex
ander Wylie Blue, Of the May Street
Presbyterian Church, and the Rev
William Corkey, Townsend Presbyter-
ian Church, Belfast; three Methodist
clergymen, the Rev. F. E. Harte, the
Rev. Edward Hazelton and the Rev. C.
Wesley Mcguire; and the Rev. William
Crooks, Episcopalian. Mrs Hazelton,
Mrs. Corkey and her sister, Mrs. King
Erwin, accompanied the party.
Only the Rev. A. Wylje Blue has
been in this country before. After be-
ing greeted by reception committee
OF clergymen and representatives. of the
Society for American and British
Friendship, the visitors threw down the
gantiet to the propagandists of the
Sim Fein movement in this country.
Here to Ask Fair Play
The following statement was issued:
AS an official delegation from the
Episcopal, Methodist and PRESBYTERIAN
churches o Ireland to he United
States, we wish first to convex the
greetings of the people We represent
TO the people of America. We are not
mere on financial campaign We are
not here on a political campaign
American. politics is matte for Amer
leans, and British politics M tier FOR
Brltlshers We are here in the interest
OF law and oroer, of truth anu honesty
of fair play and principle, to protest
against the pernicious propaganda
which is being spread in your country
in relation to Ireland.
Our mission is not sectarian; we
raise no religious issue. Our mission
Fein movement in Ireland, which is
spreading its propaganda in America,
is not solution of the Irish ques-
ton; that it is radical and destructive
in its methods; that it is conducting
In Ireland a campaign of coercion,
threat and assassination; and that it
is not supported nor respected now
by the better type of people in Ire
land. whether Catholic or Protestant
(who have no interested or prejudiced
motive); that it was the party of re-
belllon during the war; that it SUD-
ported and furthered the cause Of the
zoe; that it was traitor to the Allied
cause. We wish to point out to the
people of America that it's terms are
misleading. Naturally in America you
would favor a republican form of gov
ernment The Sim Fein calls Itself a
republic. Therein lies the danger. 1t
IS movement akin to the Bolshevik
republic in Russia. Their methods are
alike
Say Republic Cannot Exist
We are here to say to America that
TINS element is, according to their own
announcement, asking the American
people for several millions of dollars
1t is your right to do as you please
with your gifts, but we feel that you
ought to know the purpose and the
object for which these millions are be-
ing raised. The republic does not exist
and cannot exist
I'VE are here also to assert our self
respect. If what these Sim Fein
agents say concerning the British gov
ernment in relation to Ireland as to
brutality, domination and subjection is
true, and if our churches are opposed
to Sim Fen, then we are partners with
the government. We resent their un
help your citizens, who know the
falsity of the Sim Fein appeal. to in
form the American public on the real
situation. We know our mission will
have wide hearing for the report
Of your fair play and honor is abroad
in our churches"
To Spend Two Months Here
The visiting delegation, which came
by invitation of American churchmen.
represents approximately 100000
Protestants of Ireland. 1t will be well
coined at 10 O'Clock this morning at
the headquarters of the Society for
American and British Friendship at
bl6 Madison Avenue, which will coop
crate with various Protestant churches
in this country in preparing an itin-
erary expected to cover two months
travel.
Plans have already been perfected
for a meeting in the largest hall in
Pittsburgh within three weeks, ac-
cording to the Rev. +. M. McFadden,
president of the Ulster Society, Of
flttSDurgh, VINO met the delegation.
Other members Of the reception com
mittee were the Rev. d. D. Irvine. of
the Society for American and British
Friendship; the Rev. DIR. Wallace
Mullen. district superintendent of
the Methodist Conference; the Rev.
DR.. David G. Downey, book editor of
the Methodist Episcopal Church; the
Rev. David G. Wylie, general secretary
OF the Board of Church Erection of
the Presbyterian Church; the Rev. DR..
Alexander Alison jrc, of Bridgeport.
Conn; the Rev. Dr.. j. H. Sheppard, of
the Park Baptist Church, Staten
Island the Rev. DR.. T. C. Johnson. Of
the Cathedral of st. John the Divine,
representing Bishop Burch; the Rev.
Robert S. lnglis, D. D., Third Presbv-
terian Church, of Newark, N. j., and
others.
Blames Misguided Agitators
According to the Rev. William
Corkey, Sim Fein papers have recently
been approving the doctrines of the
Bolsheviki and the /. w. w. He de-
clared that misguided agitators are con-
tinuing a feeling in Ireland of hatred
for England, founded on causes which
no longer exist. The friendship be-
tween England and the United States,
he declared, is being injured here by
che same sort of agitation.
During the war;" he said, ireland
was freer than any other part of the
British Empire. She had plenty of
food, no coQscription, local sclf-qovern-