The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-02-14

that at the Conference which was to end all wars as well as the martyr dom of the weak nations. For more than TOO years England has been made to feel that Ireland was a na- tion. English politicians had tried every means of extinguishing the na- tional spirit but on their own confes- sion they were no nearer to success than in the days of Oliver Cromwell. They were so solicitous for Yrelands welfare that they feared that Ireland could not stand alone--that Ireland could not do without her fairy god ! mother-who had been squandering her wealth to support her poor re- lation. Ireland had counted the cost and she would take the risk and re- lieve the fairy gomother of her self imposed task.
 They pretended to believe that in an independent Ireland the Protest ant minority would be made to suf- fer. Their susceptibilities for minor tiles elsewhere were not so keen and tender, but Irish Catholics had this to their credit-that they had never persecuted their fellow-countrymen for consience' sake. They said that England could not tolerate at her very door the setting up of a free, independent and probably hostile state. That argument they could al- so understand, but they marveled at the audicity in bringing it forward. It meant once more that where Eng land was concerned might was right; that, being a strong nation, she had the right to seize any territory that she thought would give her greater security in her island home or in her far-reachfng dominfons. It would give her the right to seize, if she were able, and fortify the Belgian and the French coasts, as well as the Irish. There was no reason for thinking that an independent Irish republic would be hostile to England, or to any other nation. Even if she were, those who were so insistent on the League Of Nations, and so hopeful of it's results, might have had the fairness to ad- init that a league that was going to keep the whole world in order would be able to shield England from the at-
 tacks of her little neighbor, and to keep that little island in the Atlantic in order.
 The fact that Ireland, like Aus tralia, was a peace-1ovfng country. In war and in peace, in working TOT ma terial good, or in facing a common
 danger, England could surely expect more help from a friendly independ-
 ent neighbor than from hostile Ire land, held down by force, from sul- len Ireland, within the Empire but not of it. England, or rather Eng fish politicians, had laid down the principle that Ireland could not have the benefit of any act for her bet ter government, unless that act had | the approval of 8 certain small min ority in the northeast corner of Ire land. By adopting that principle, or because so many of England's politi- clans adopted it, England had put Ireland outside the British Constitu- ton. In acting in this undemocrat- | Ic manner England had not merely abased herself, but had violated the root principles of the British Consti- tuition. By her own deliberate act England had now placed Ireland out side the pale of the British Const1tu- ton; and, having done so, England was surprised that she was taken at her word.
 | At the conclusion of Archbishop Mannix's address, the immense aud l fence rose and, waving hats and , handkerchiefs, cheered the popular preiate for several minutes. Then the l Archbishop invited the ex-Premier of . Queensland, MT. T. J. Ryan, to take ! the chair, and that gentleman was i vociferously cheered on doing so. He 1 made a very eloquent speech, pune 1 tuated from time to time, by loud 1 cheers and concluded by calling upon Archhishop Redwood, of Wellington. New Zealand, to move the first res- 1 olution.
 | Archbishop Redwood was accorded l a most enthusiastic reception. He said that although he was an EngEshman he was, on the Irish question, by con- yiction and sentiment, as Irish as the best Irish themselves. He knew the lanentable story of Ireland's wrongs
 and woes for many centuries at the hands of the mis-government of Eng land. By England he meant the gov ernment, not the English people a large. The vast majority or English men had been craftily and systemat icalIy kept in the dark regarding Ire II landn They were helpless victims O
 9. false tradition, of accumulated 1ie' tand nnisrepresentations for centuries At the back of the mis- gove}ntns
 gang in England there had been th'
 venal and corrupt press mlslead1n:
 the people, and at the same time l there had been a suppression of every
 argum ent for Ireland's right Of self
 determination and national tndepend ence. All good Australians ought tt
 be Sim F'einers. We were told tha
 the object Of the war was the utte destruction of Prussianisn, but th'
 small nation at EngIand's door wa
 the eoaded victim of the most bare
 faced and trageous Prussianisn
 that was ever known, He begged
 to move the first resolution, in whict
 was incorporated that the "delegate
 to the Australasian Irish-Race Con
 vention, assembled in Melbourne, af
 firm the right of the people of Ire land to choose their own form O.
 government, and to govern theil
 country without interference from an!
 other nation"
 When you reflect that you ofte1