Evening star., 1922-02-05

there was a privy council made up
OF sixty members. These were the
presidents of the various boards Of
administration. under whom there
was veritable army of officials Of
all kinds. chief of which was the Eng
lish secret service for Ireland. The
viceroy was merely a figurehead in
the Irish government. The real ruler
was the chief secretary, and it would
be hard to find in the long list of
chief secretaries of Ireland more
than two whose names found any
tony Mcdonnell and George Wynd-
ham.
Wyndham did more for Ireland in
his short term as chief secretary than
any other official in Dublin Castles
bill Of 1903, fathered by wyndham.
was the most radical measure ever
passed by the London parliament. and
when the eloquence of Redmond. Dill
lon and T. P. O'Connor failed. Wynd-
and right won the victory. But.
apart from these two chief secre-
taries. most Of those sent to Dublin
to rule the land have thought of the
described one of his characters: Ma
ture forgot to shade him off. think.
He is a little too boisterous, like
the sea. A little too vehement, like
a bull who has made up his mind
to consider every color scarlet. But
grant a ge-hammering sort Of
merit in him.
X X * X
The Irish chief secretary was COM
PEELED to spend six or eight months
in the year at the parliament in
London. and thus he was literally at
the mercy of an irresponsible coterie
of officials who were permanent tx
lures in the castle. One of these
officials once described the situation
by saying that the case of the clock
might be changed, but the mechanism
was the same as before. The castle
formed the best example in modern
government sof the evils Of an oil
garchy. All the subordinate officials
throughout the nation were instru-
ments of this powerful political ma
chine. and for this reason the castle
has often been called the Tammany
of Ireland.
What is not generally known and
appreciated is the fact that with all
the good will in the world for Irish
peace and happiness. the London
parliament often found its important
measures held UP and hampered by
the privileged group at Dublin Castle
Hardly a concession was ever made
to irish popular demands but the
castle crowd interfered to distort and
deform the law.
For this and thousand other
causes. especially for the spv system
people hated this Irish bastile es
the devil is alleged to hate holy
water. ENGLAND and English opinion
on the Irish problem changed very
ireland and Irish appreciation OF
England's colonial policy had changed
considerably in that time. A recon
ciliation, thwarted thousand tunes
by the enemies of both countries,
hecane more and more possible IS
this change of sentiment grew more
apparent Rut between the English
and the Irish stood the hated ma
chinery of the castle. for the castle
never changed. 1t was unmoved TO
pitv, deaf to appeal blind to tragedy
and hea-tless in adversitv.
All loval Irishmen. Catholic as well
as Protestant. loDeed for the end OF the
castle rule. Consnnuenflv. when Young
Ireland. through Michael Collins. query
and without theatrical disnlay. accented
the keys Of this fortress of English
dominance. an end was written to one
n1ase of Irish history that all will he
happy to see buried in oblivion. No
truer Christian act was ever performed
when these young men. torch-hearers
Of the newly liberated race. restrained
their followers from following the ex-
annie of the French. who tore the
hastile of Paris to shrads on the night
of July IA. 17sa. 1t made many OF US
bark back in spirit 10 the earliest Aays
Of the Christian faith. when the victor
ious Christians spared the pagan tenn
piles and dedicated them to God by
placing a cross above their portals.
X X * x
Not in bitterness. then, will future
generations of Irish boys and girls gaze
upon this old relic of the past. The
sorrow that has clung like a drapery
so closely around the fair form Of Erin
that it seemed part of herself will
gradually be forgotten. and the hated
things for which Dublin Castle stood
will vanish like bad dreams Of the
night.
Michael Collins allowed the word
surrender" to escape his lips when he
announced the castles transfer on Janu-'
ary II, 1922. but that can be easily for
given by the departed officials. The
hills and valleys Of Erin are shining
with love and laughter and light these
infant days of the new year Of 1922.
for the barrier that separated Ireland
and England more successfully than ST.,
Georges channel has been removed for.
ever.
Copyright. 1922. by DR.. Peter Guilday.l