Norwich bulletin., 1921-10-31

whose case Is less than l5O years, that, during all the centuries of persecution by England, the most cruel. the most fright fuI, the most diabclical that history re- cords, has never yielded single national Characteristic whether religion, folklore, rnrsic, all those splendid attributes of heart aud mind, that are the very foun- dation ssone of organized society wher over civilization has been worth while, and today in spite of the frightful schemes of colonization attempted by England, Ireland is more Irish than the day on which the first Sassenach set foot upon Irish soil more than seven centuries ago.
 But notwithstanding this great love for the race that bore us, we, as Arneri- cans would never be justified In asking our congressman to vote to recognize the existing government of Ireland, even ad- uniting our sacred pledge to our soldier boys, if it could be shown that Irelands case was not consistent with all recogniz- ed theories of government and did not measure up to every test which our gov ernments established by the peoples of 1 fifteen different countries during our ex- | istence as nation.4
 "In the case of Ireland, 1t was the re- l suit of a long campaign where the issue
 was clearly drawn. In the words of the l Manchester (England) Guardian-one of
 the most truthful and fearless papers published in the British Empire-'9The attempt of the British Tories, when the vote was announced, to convince the peo- pie that the Irish did not know what
 they were voting upon, is so absurd that
 it will not bear serious discussion. Every
 issue was clearly defined and the over
 whelning result shows that the people of
 Ireland have determined to maintain their
 own form of government
 With every polling place in charge of
 a paid English official the Irish people
 cast one milliors two hundred odd thous-
 ands in favor of their own government
 and two hundred thousand against, or more than four to one"
 "On the question of religion, the thing is so palpa(bly a camouflage that if 1t
 were not for the hellishness of English propaganda, the facts of history would carry the complete answer.
 l I an, however, constrained to offer the judgment of just one great American .l statesman. The great American states man I refer to was the late Honorable i James G. Blaine of Maine.
 | Mfr. Blaine spoke as representative Protestant American. a member of the l Presbyterian church. He took the plat form in defense of Ireland's right to free
 dom and incidentally, to drive out of America commission of Presbyterian
 ministers who had come here during the
 discussion upon the Gladstone home rule !. bill. MT. Blaine said it was deplorable
 that any man or set of men would at tempt to embroil American into relig-
 ious quarrel, much less strangers from abroad. He said the Irish movement, with one or two exceptions had ever
 been led by Protestants, mostly from the north.
 ''As to the consistency of Ireland's case, let nus recall that the first concrete at tempt to solve the problem through local, self-government, was in 1886 when the !, Honorable William H. Gladstone, the great English Conmoner presented his
 Irish home rule bill to the parliament of . Britain.
 "Mr Gladstone, then at the height of e his political career staked his all on ts~ s measure. Defeated in the parliament, ht ] carried his case to the people of Great : Britain and was defeated by a small ma g jority. In that contest the people o1 l Ireland, Catholic and Protestant, outside
 of the less than fifteen per cent. in Bel 1I fast and vicinity stood shoulder to should T CT behind Gladstone.
 C ''The human heart can stand just ahou . so much before bursting and, Eastel . Week, 1916, when the street of Dublin e Limerick and other Irish places wer, . watered with the blood of martyrs, wa S but the natural human sequel to the aw h full betrayal of the Irish people in 1914 Il The people of Ireland took solemn oatl It that never again would England have . chance to betray them.
 r T have given you the figures of tn h election of December, 1918, when tn o Irish people confirmed the republic O - Easter Week. In conformity with tha O overwhelming vote they elected their na # tional parliament (Dail Eireann) which i - turn elected it's leaders who have lon e fago convinced the right thinking men an
 women of the world of the absolute ius
 tice of their case and that the Irish par
 liament, under the leadership of Eamon Il, de Valera, is the most constructive lesis l. lative body in the world. Whatever may have been the exper ', ence rp to this time of Lloyd Georg ;- after the Irish republican army had licl a ed the Black and Tans, the agents ( ,e Hell itself and Lloyd George had aske
 Eamonn de Valera to meet him that whe a he looked across the table at De valer ;t at the conference in London, he looked II .s to the face of his master, intellectual = Automatically and by every other test |
 which mans capacity is measured.
 The events of the past few weel ,- show that in every turn Eamonn de V; !, lera has met and defeated Lloyd Geor, +- in his camouflage efforts and final ,o with a straight punch forced Llo, in George to his knees by compelling him ,r give over every stipulation which he h;
 made for the continuance of the confe ,. ences of the representatives of the ty
 nations There never was time in t o+ history of the Irish movement when :, was 50 absolutely necessary for eve - man and woman in every part of t - -. world, and particularly in America. W
 believes in right and justice and for t .-- principles ftv which the World war "
 fought, to stand up and be counted. ' C. pray the God of Justic that peace. wi KS honor may come to Ireland but if it W Gods will that the fight continue, co must redouble our efforts as loyal pat as o+ic Anoeric.nr +o r.daa1, Is ng made to our u,ondarfnT loyv .rs ,,,, p,eos -s ts, ernrnent.l oc+io,, re.o,,t,. se re inc rigb+ o@ +hn ra,,,io .s .,.-s sn art nosi,+si- its e.,, '. 1ieiaiu mt rigb+ o+ a., a+1..,es-,. anu
 time who shall, by free vote. make Il ,c. decision.
 ras up to date Ireland is the only natl 'ed In all the world that has accented tht in declarations of war principles at tn lse face value and stands as the acid t ory Of the sincerity of those principles. I his issue is clear cut and will not down. La If the work of Washington, Jeffers me Adams Franklin and all their fellow S bly, Feiners of 15o years ago, which resul ade in the establishment of this wonder