Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-21

Half of Sim Feiners Who Ex-
pected to Attend Are in
British Prisons.
MEETS IN DUBLIN TODAY


DUBLIN, January 21.-Probably no
country except Ireland could present
an episode as remarkable as the assem-
bly, of the 'sDail Eireann," which is
Irish Gaelic for "Irish Parliament"
that will be called to order in Dublin's
ancient Mansion House this afternoon
to proclaim ireland an independent re-
public.
Perhaps no writer except an Irish
man like George Bernard Shaw could
do justice to the paradoxical nature
of the proceedings. About half the
Sim Feiners elected to membership in
the British parliament will partici-
pate, the other half being in various
English prisons charged with sedi-
tion or merely held on suspicion un-
der the spacious and elastic provisions
of the defense of the realm act. The
Sim Feiners will meet under the
shadow of Dublin castle, where pre-
sides Field Marshal Viscount French,
the first viceroy in many years to
give Ireland a purely military gov
full knowledge and tacit consent to
take measures which are purely Sc
ditious and in direct violation of ex-
plicit law.
,.z. Scorn British Parliament. 4
This is sene paradox, Another is
that these Sim Feiners. elected by
about half of the voters in ireland
on a platform of independence from
the British empire. were chosen mem
bers of the British parliament, but
specifically refused to recognize that
body and to call themselves mem
bers of the British parliament. They
occupy Mansion House by the permis-
sion of the lord mayor of Dublin.
who himself is a home ruler. but not
SO much of a separatist that he does not
expect to accept what most of his prede-
cessors have accepted knighthood
from the British government.
In the shabby Sim Fein headquar-
ters. surrounded in decayed old
house, which was at one time one
of Dublin's finest mansions, courteous
young woman secretaries give cards
of admission to today's meeting quite
impartially to friend or foe. to sup
porterS of the Sim Fein and to cor
respondents of British newspapers
which hold the Sim Fein and all it's
works anathema.
Cardinals Former Home.
Cardinal Newman had his residence
in this house during his unhappy in
cumbency of his high ecclesiastical
post in Dublin. concerning which he
was reported to have said afterward
that his days in Dublin should be sub
tracted from his term in purgatory, a
sentiment which Americans who al
ways find Dublin one of the most de-
lightful cities in Europe can hardly
indorse.
Today's program in Independence
Hall will differ in one respect from
the solemnities Of 1776 at Philadelphia.
1t will be carried out in the Irish Ian
guage. which is virtually a dead
tongue, so dead that the Sim Feiners
have been obliged to rehearse their
parts and will be compelled to lapse
occasionally into boycotted English
terms because they cannot find Irish
words to At modern parliamentary
procedure.
Three items are expected to consti-
tute the body of the program-a
declaration of independence, a mes
sage to 'the free nations of the world"
and the appointment of delegates to
the peace congress.
No Disorder Is Anticipated.
Ireland is country Of the unex-
pected. but no one predicts any trou-
BILE or disorder. The revolutionary flag
floats quite freely over the homes Of
Sim Feiners in Dublin. Members Of
the party expect protection from the
authorities of the nation whom they
are defying.
Once they would have looked to the
United States for sympathy and help,
but now they think they do not COM
mand American support They do not
talk of. and apparently do not contem-
plate, violence.
Dublin had an unhappy and fruitless
experience in the insurrection of 1916
an experience which cost rows of
buildings on Sackvil1e street, once
pointed to with pride as the finest ave-
nue. in Europe.
The government has revoked the
order made last July requiring Off
cial authorization for public meet
ings and professions in ireland. This
order has been suspended for some