.J
THE
EDITED BY EOIN;- MAC NEILL.-. Vol. 2.
No. 40
(New Series).
.SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11; 1915.
what was the meaning of it, a~d was it going to be anot~t::r firing out. It turned out so. The Irish Party had and has a programme and a mandate· wliich, ·t hough not absol~tely definite, · The Gaelic League i ~ getting lectured by is clearly enoug~ de~ned within certain limits. people who are uneasy about politics. The The Irish electorate, on a celebrated o~casion, Gaelic League is not wide and free enough for in _oppositi~n to the Party leader-s -who • now these counseilors. The Unionist Irislz limes demand to be exeh1pt not merely from opposi· has taken a hand at the lecturing. So have the tion but from criticis_m, and to be empowered Live-on-Hope Home Rulers. When did the In"slt to settle the National deniand in private conferTimes ever give a lecture on wide and free ence with those whole-souled Home Rulers, the tolerance to its own party ? If it wants a clean members of the late Home Rule Cabinet.:.... the street, let it begin sweeping at its own door. - factious, critica_l, cranky, croaky, mischiefmakAnd what about the Live-on-Hopes? None of ing Mrs. Gummidges who constitute the. Irish these people can venture to · bring any definite electorate laid down the law to Mr. Redmond charge against the Gaelic League, which remains that no mere scheme of glorified Local Governwhat it has always been-a National organisa- ment was to be accepted, and Mr. Redmond tion, not a party organisation. The lecturers of had to go back and t~ll the Liberal Governthe Gaelic League wo~ld like to see its work _ ment, and the Liberal Government had to take watered down to ling uistics. The Gaelic League the law from Mr. Redmond's masters-the Irish is for Irish as the National language, in the electorate. On the other hand) the Irish elecspirit of Davis, who said, "a nation must guard torate _has fixed no ma ximum, ~ ut ha·s the right its language as it would guard its territories" ; to be consulted about the main lines of any in the spirit of Douglas Hyde, who, :speaking as settlement that is proposed.
I
.NOTES.
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President of the Gaelic League, has d~clared a hundred times th;;_tt _his aim and the League's aim is :'the ?e-Anglicisation of lreland.''
*
*
The Live-on-Hope people have aiso a bit of the street in front of their own premises that might be attended to before they carry their brooms to- the ·Gaelic League. _ Last week I asked . why Mr. Murnaghan, of Omagh, was shelved ·in f;,ivour of a gnitleman whose chief distinction is that he has picked up one of the , H's that ar~- d_ropped _s b freely on the other si_d e of the w~ter. How many others have there b~en whose _p resence w::is tiot tolerated in the temple of wide ;ind free tolerance? Mr. Tim Healy may have been hard for flesh and blood · to bear, e$pecially when flesh a11d blood_ was . bearing Lord Rosebery. Bl1t ·:-vhy was the ban : extended to all Mr. - He~rly ' s kith and kin? How do the tolerance lecturers explain the ostracising of T. D. Sullivan? . They are anxious ' about the. open door o(th; :~~~li~ -Leag~e. Is the other door_to be open only when somebody who doe_s not\e~.- eye f~r . ~y_e ~ith Mr~ T. P. O'C911nor. i~ tq qe k_i~ked into the street ?
.... *
*
_I re';1,tru·ber weil.\vhen: Mr:-Dillon's Zli-ff",;;rtuce--
Price One
ti1::s is no hetter established than the Divine right of kings A majority can be tyran:iical, and its tyranny can · be of a very oppressive kind The French Secularists, of whom Premier Viviani is now the head, have -atted \vith as little regard for liberty as any despot. There is nothing sacred in the power of fifty-orte men over forty-nin e·- not even in the power of ninety-nine men over one. That the de~ision of a majority sh_o uld hold goo~ is merely a principle of order, not of liberty or justice. Political majorities, if they are sane, must recognise that they are not infallible, and that minorities have a right to exist, and liberties that should be respected._ For the life of me, I cannot understand _that there is any _reasonexcept, perhaps, personal reasons, that ought to be squashed-why the Irish Party should not consist pf a majority that favoured the Dillon idea and a minority that favoured the O'Brien idea, or vz"ce versa. _ To insist on . uniformity is to tranwle on liberty. Besides being_ tyrannic~ !, it is insane, for . it is a policy that 1s perpetually defeating itself.
* Now within these limits there 1s roum for a
Penn~.
*
*
The O 'Brien-_Dillon- feud becomes com p li
g reat deal of diversity of opinion among the cated when we see that Mr. Redmond and Mr. Irish elect0rate, and there ought to be room Dillon haye outflanked Mr. O'Brien by the for much diversity of opinion among their sharp ~nd sudden curve, and are now Superrepresentatives; just as there ought tu bt room, Conciliationists. There is joy in Heaven over tolerance, and full liberty within the ·Gaelic the repent~nt sinner, but Mr. O'Brien does not League for any man or woman who aims at re101ce. It would appear that each side thinks securing the position of Irish as the National Conciliati"on i_s tqe right thing, · provided that it language and at the de-Anglicisation of Ireland. is not advocated by the other side. T~en, of The vast majority .o f -Gaelic Leagu~rs have course, it- is factionism. "Orthodoxy is my always stood up for that liberty, and will always doxy, heterodoxy is · the other man's doxy." maintain and respect it. But is the same sort Patriotism "is my faction, and faction is the of liberty respected in the hish Party ? If not, other man's patriotism. Mr. O'Brien says- _ why not? What exactly has been gained by " Mr. Redmond and his friends are now all the -policy of setting up orthodoxy \vithin sighing for a settl~men-t - by consent, and all orthodoxy? Why are Mr. O'Brien and his their energy is cpnfined to"jockeyiI]g the All-for · _ adherents outside? I dcm't. beliL ve :n Mr. -- Ireland-er_s out of_~ny credit for it.'' : That must O'Brien's pol-icy of conciliatiqn , in , th_e ciicum- be in tbe Freeman, whoever reads it. So both stances ; but if Mr. O'Brien was in the Gaelic sides are claiming the credit f0r the sett,lement League and proposed -to. conciliate the enemies by consent, to the amusement- of the .Kaiser's of the Irish Jangu;age, to confer witJ-( them, and guest in the Cabmet. Would it n~t be well to to : win their- .con;~nt-'to -somethi-ng favou rable, get something first, and thei1 fig~t about the whatever ~ might - tlJ_in~ of.his pro.sp_ects, I credit fr)r it?. Now th~t -·we a,re· all allies, it should . certainly ne-~.-'et imagine that : his pro- ..: ough"t b~ i ' tiriie _.f~-r 'ari<!ther Buckingp"osaJs: sliqu1d bring him under: the ban ~ of the > ham fal~c~- -coriferen~'e. _If I\{T:· 0' Brien had Gaelic League. · onl)_'. _been _. ther~ the )a·s~ "_ti~~~- Sir ~dward would . . . ...never . . have . . . . . said . ···what ··- . he , , .did. say. .-
t6
goocf
-'.. with his ()ld co~ua?t:·_i n ·apn? . began' to~ dtvelop. ..... . . ; ~ 1'G: , : - :. ij; J . ; ,,_-1..· 1: ' . M[ . ~ Djllon · ope~ed _the _case _i!l , publi_c at__a _ Majority rule is . one thing, and co111pubo1 y -Mr.- 0'B-nen: turns: from : h-is -sorrowful conmeeting in K.ilrea, o.n \he __ banks _of the B.<tnn. uniformity. is another. -· Th-e;~ ·is-·n~tbln~ ·s-acr-~·d ! t~mpiation of Mr. Redmj~d' to: make a solem11 I rem ember asking Mr. Patrick White, M.P. , i1k majo~i~y :nile. The Di v~ ne right of maj od- . .)
'_t