The New York herald., 1922-01-08
Conflicts Had Religious
Base in Antipathy of Prot
estants and Catholics.
GAINS AT EVERY EFFORT
Sim Fein, Aided by English
Labor Party, Finally Wins
Freedom.

To get as near to absolute freedom
as she has, Ireland has fought the
! British crown since the days the mis-
| guided Henry VIII. sought to rout
the Roman Catholic church from the
island and substitute the Protestant.
This warfare has continued without
long interruption for even when prone
and starving, unable TO fire a pistol or
lift 9. fist, Ireland has fought for inde-
| pendence.
1t started even further back than
Henry, who after all. merely brought
to a head the fostering hate that had
its inception in the rivalry between
the Irish kings and the feudal barons
who came from the Continent. By
way OF marking epochs in Ireland's
fight for freedom seven definite up
risings might be cited. There We're
others-many others, to be sure, but
these seven stand out.
First there was the Shane O'Neill re.
bellion in 1851. That collapsed when this
| OiNeill was killed in 1851. Then The
Geraldine rebellion that came to nothing
in 1865. Again the O'Neills sounded the
ing more or less continuously for four
years. In 1641 Roger O'Moore and Owen
Roe O'Nelll led the rebellion, and the
warfare continued until Oliver Cromwell
| became England's dictator
Charles the Second sought to drive the
| Catholics out OF Ireland, and there was
great misery in the island until James
the Second came to the throne. and such
| relief as he was able to afford vanished
when he abdicated. Ireland Joined him
and fought valiantly against the Crown,
even after the Battle of the Boyne
in 1920.
In 1898. at wexford, Father Murphy set
forth with his small, inspired band.
only to die on the scaffold. And then
came the great Fenian uprising of 1865,
lasting until 1865.
! Something Gained Each Time.
Every one of these successive rebel
lions gained in strength. Every one was
rewarded by some success. despite the
fate of the leaders thereof.
Finally. on April 25, 1916, the new Irish
party--the Sim Fein eve ourselves D.
hoisted its flag over the Dublin Post Of
flee and proclaimed Ireland republic.
The bloody Easter rebellion followed.
and SO terrific was this outburst that
England knew that It was engaged in
a death struggle with the embattled
island that had been working up TO
this point since 1884, when Henry an
nounced himself King instead of Lord
of Ireland.
Incident to these seven specified out
bursts against English rule there were
numerous concessions made by the
! Crown. Each concession marked a step
; upward for Ireland and each famed
the nationalist flame 10 hotter fire.
First there was the empty National
Parliament during the reign OF James
the First and the obviously inert laws
aimed at equality in the courts OF Catho-
lie and Protestant.
Through all this fighting. from Henry
to the present date, the religious factor
has been fundamental. IL not the i'm
mediate, point at issue.
In 1888 the British Parliament adopted
the act OF renunciation. In the future,
according to this inadequate law, Ire
land was to have her own Parliament
and was to make her own laws In
vain did ireland protest that she could
make no laws for herself unless taxes
l were so adjusted that she could catch
her financial breath. The act of re-
nunciation was more or less of n farce,
inasmuch as the peasantry had been
reduced to beggary. The great Irish
Parliament closed for all time when
Father Murphy's uprising started.
Then came the Pitt plan in 1900 and
the rise OF Daniel O'Connell. Little by
little the English grip was slipping and
Ireland was getting set for the final
battle. She reached the depths of dog
radiation, however. when the great
famine of 1916 descended upon her Two
million of her inhabitants starved 10
death. Four millions fled to America.
After Famine, Home Rule.
But the famine marked the low point
after X came the rebound. The corn
laws resulted from the famine. Wheat
was permitted to enter ireland free of
duty. Ireland grew in strength. Out
of this strength came the Fenians,
father OF Sim Feln. and out OF the
Fenian rebellion came GIadstono's first
home rule bill and the land purchas-
ing act. whereby Irishmen might OBJ
tain Irish soil by purchase. This was
a long step forward.
The home rule bill was rejected by
London. SO was Mr.. Gladstone's second
measure in 1893. The inadequate land
purchase act was made more sincere and
liberal In 1905. when the restoration OF
the land to the people was seriously
undertaken for the first time.
Next came Asquth's home rule bill
OF 1914 and tho uprising OF Carson and
his 10000 Ulster volunteers They said
that the passage OF the Asquith measure
meant that they would fight south ire
land TO the death rather than tolerate
domination by the Catholics. Again the
old religious war. except that now the
Catholics we're no longer browbeaten OF
legally shackied.
At last they were able 20 stand In
court or on the streets the equal of the
Protestant. And the Protestant clergy
Of Ulster began to warn It's congrega.
tlons of the coming uprising OF Catholic
hate. The Catholics had suffered long
they said. Permit home rule, and ex.
pect fearful reprisals.
Tho world war came, and with IL the
new Sim Fein party-a lustier, younger
and more numerous party than ever had
menaced the Crown.
Yesterdays acceptance of the peace
treaty and the establishment OF tn,
irish Free State came out OF the Sinr
Fein uprising just as the Sim Feir
issued from the progressive uprisingr