The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1920-08-15
CHAMPIONS THE
DOMINION BILL
Aged Peer Has Spent Life
in Endeavor to
Free Erin.
TAKES LEAD AT AGE II
Lord Monteagle Introduces in
House of Lords Practical
Irish Solution.
l,v MERGARET WALTER.

round the house Of lords. Thomas
sprirg Rice, the second Baron
Nu1tcagle Of Brandon. the peer who
Introduced the Dominion of ireland
bin In that house, is the last man
y1u would have picked out In that
assembly Of hereditary aristocrats to
produce document to upset "A gov
srHmcut--one which contains more
statesmanship, more democracy,
more self determination and more
horse sense than any home rule bill
which has ever been presented to
the British parliament" as Sir
Horace Plunkett put 1t.
Lord Monteaglc, "a quiet unas-
suming peer" with gentle eyes and
long white heard, Is an Irishman
taken from the banks Of the Shan
non where, 16 years old, 50 years
ago. ne succeeded to his grandfath-
sr's title. lie was then a schoolboy
at Harrow. He distinguished him
self in mathematics at Cambridge.
on attaining his majority he went
10 live at Fovnes, the family estate
OF about 1000 acres in the county
OF Limerick.
Shouldcred Responsibility Early.
TO a young man brought up In
tho aristocradc atmosphere of a
great English public school the re-
spunsibility OF governing the lives
and fortunes OF hundreds of ignor-
ant peasants was almost staggering.
But the boy as he was he immedi-
ately took his position seriously and
proceeded to make good his obliga-
tons. This meant that almost i'm
mcdiately he was called upon to
choose between his own family for
tune and the future and welfare OF
his tenants,
Those were the days of the land
trouble in Ireland and II Is signifi-
cant that the young peer was the
first to support Mr.. Gladstone's land
acts Of 1886. He supported and put
them into immediate practice, with
the result that he gave up 1000
acres to his tenants at once; this
was presently followed by the sale
Of all his farm lands in small hold
ings to peasant farmers on terms
exceedingly advantageous to them.
But Lord Monteagle did not, as
many other Irish landlords, turn
his property into cash in order to
come and live in England, leaving
tho ignorant peasants to their fate.
He retained possession of his villages
only and settled down in his family
home at Foynes to devote his life
to his country and his people.
Lord Monteagle was not home
ruler in those days; he believed that
Irish farmers would want nothing
more IL they were given the land.
lie was the first and the most en-
thusiastic supporter of the irish ag-
ricultural organization society which
introduced the cooperative system
OF farming into ireland.
NTtFn Him IN Home RuIe,
In 1875 Lord Monteagle married
the sister Of another school friend,
daughter Of the Bishop Of Meath.
His wife was an arden home ruler
and gradually az the years went by
she succeeded in converting her nus
band TO the realization that mere
material prosperity would never
solve the Irish question. To Lord
Monteagle gradually came the con-
vicuon that in n federal alliance
rather than union lay the only hope
Of peace.
Lord Monteagle was elected to
the first county council set up IN
ireland, In 1898, and since that
time has held county offices con-
tnuously. He is and has always
been a stauch friend of Sir Horace
Plunkett, and when the irish
dominion league was formed Lord
Monteagle at once gave 1t his com
plete support.
But not one realized that 1t would
fall to this gentle old man, now IN
his list year, who prouoly
yet deprecatingly, refers to himself
as u "backwoodsman," actually TO
put into legislative form The claims
Of the best men in Ireland,
"As the day approached on which
was to make my Introductory
speech | had an almost sickening
dread" Lord Monteagle told me- re-
ferring to the presentation OF his
bill to the house of lords. 1T Is so
many years since have taken any
part in politics, and 1 have grown
so accustomed to the ways and
habits of the, political world at
Westminster, that I found l had
scarcely contemporary. Indeed J
an today working with men ana
women who are Of my children 8
generation rather than mine. and
when 1 stood up before the lords
felt like one returned from an
other world, driven to my task by
one thought only, the need for peace
in Ireland.
81 could not leave the question Of
ireland alone, as so many of my
It is the duty OF every freshman at
this moment to proclaim the faith
that is in him and this 10 my faith.
My bin is my own, brought forward
with no party object, | leave re-
elimination TO one side and I do
not attack the government. l am
good friends with many sinn feiners
my daughter is a Sim feiner-
and my position has alienated me
from my friends and relatives. men
who under other circumstances
would have been my inumates
through life. These things are
nothing to me. The dearest wish in
my heart is for peace in Ireland and
TO keep Ireland a willing member of
the British commonwealth of free
nations. | believe this is possible on
a dominion basis, but nothing short
II 1t, and to this end l have dared
TO take my stand alone. an old man,
but firm In my faith"