The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-02-14
IRISH IN AUSTRALIA DEMAND THAT
 IRELAND BE GIVEN FREEDOM

objects of the war was to secure self determination for the smaller nations. Therefore, the people of Ireland and their kindred in Australasia call upon the Allies and the United States to prove the sincerity of their declara- ton by granting self-determination to Ireland, which has a stronger claim upon the bestowal of such a grant than those smaller nations to which self-determination has been given, al- though they do not, like Ireland, stand alone in the midst of an ocean, but are created by the disruption of two central empires which have emerged from the war so disastrous for themselves.
 To the strains of the band stationed in front of the Auditorium, playing '"The Wearing Of the Green" and other national airs, the swelling crowd continued slowly to work it's way into the building until there was not a. vacant foot of space left even for standing room in the passages. On the ground floor every seat had it's occupant, and the two galleries over head Gone above the other), reserved principally for the accommodation of women, were filled to their capacity. Many hundreds were unable to ob- tain admission.
 As the procession ascended the stairway, and those forming 1t took place allotted to them on the spacious stage, the whole audience rose to it's feet and sang God Save Ireland" with great precision and enthusiastic telling and eloquent opening address by Archbishop Mannix, which he be- gan by saying that they were assem- bled there for 8 declared and defin- ite purpose-to support Ireland's claim as expressed at the last general election in Ireland. This was no time for halting words or balanced phras he said. They were with the Irish people or against them. They would help them openly or leave them to their fate. They were not there through hate of any land or any peo- pie, no matter how ueeply they and their fathers had been wronged. They were there for love of Ireland. In pleading Ireland's cause they claimed that they were helping to remove the , blackest stain upon the Empire to which these southern lands belonged, and for whose honor and existence | they had fought. The Irish question was not a mere Imperial matter, much | less a domestic question for British l politicians to temporize with and 1 wl-angle about. It was as a question in
 which America and the nations were l vitally interested, and with which the l lasting peace of the world was very l intimately bound up. > Ireland and Irish Australia. had no reason to be
 ashamed of the chairman either as Premier of Queensland or as the | prospective Prime Minister of the 1 Comm onwealth.
 | England was equally bound by every obligation of honor and grati- 1 tude to listen when Australia and l New Zealand demanded freedom for | Ireland. They fought side by side with England for the Empire. They 1 fought for the freedom of the Bel 1 gians and the Poles and. the Jugo- Slavs, but 60,000 New ZeaIanders did not give their blood and their lives 1 that Ireland's chains might be more 1 firmly riveted than ever. They were there to support the policy which the l Irish people adopted deliberately and
 with striking unanimmity at the last l general election. For them to at l tempt to revise that policy or to sug- gest an alternative would be an inn
 pertinence at any time, but especially i now, wh en self rminatton-which
 was really Sim Feinism--was on l everybody's lips. Ireland claimed the I right to live her own life and shape her own destiny without interference l from outside. She stood apart. ir i blood and race, soul andyideals. Ire
 lands right to walk her own way
 unfettered did not come from Presi
 dent Wilson of the Big Four, ant
 it could not be taken from her either
 in Paris or in Washington. Ireland
 under English rule never had any in
 ducement to part with her nation
 hood. Her faith was banned, hel
 trade was stif1ed, her people impov
 erished, buried in paupeTs graves, O
 driven as exiles to the ends of tn,
 earth She was ruled with a rod O
 iron in the interests of a pettet
 minority, alien in blood and faith ana
 sympathy. Was 1t any wonder tha
 in these circumstances every gener
 ation in Ireland had its own arm eC
 uprising, in which Ireland fell back
 bled and exhausted, yet not subduet
 or repentant, but sullen and expec
 tant of another opportunity and
 better day. At the present nnomen
 they were told that the Kings wri
 did not run in Ireland, and that tn, Irish people were no more reconcile(
 to English rule than they were in thu
 days of Oliver Cromwell Of pioui
 memory.
 AL the present. LOOK 1UU,
 900 British troops to keep up tn pretense of maintaining English rule
 and in the face of this what wa England's answer? Either more tank and machine guns, or else the prom
 ise-a promise from those by whom Ireland had been many times betrayed of some paltry concession, provided that it met with the approval of tha small minority in whose interests Ire i land was held and tortured. Eng fish rule in Ireland was condemnet by it's fruits. Those who know tn true significance of Easter Week ant of the present military domination
 in Ireland would be ready to say. al though they had no special sympath with Ireland. that the time had pass : ed when the world should tolerat . this tragedy of English rule in Ire land. At all events Ireland ha ! turned her back upon beggarly con l sessions and halting and blunderin = attempts to mitigate the evils of for | eign and hostile rule Her objectio . was-this he said deliberately-no . really to bad government from out