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THE
BY EOIN MAC NE-I -LL. Vol. 2.
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..o. 51 (New Se,ries),
NOTES
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1915,
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on the ground. Then they invoked the help of Inspector Hicks, who prosecuted Kinsella under the Defence of the Realm A.ct and got him convicted, on :the evi·dence of . his assailants, of using language calculated to produce disa:ftection in the minds of his Majesty's subjects .' Hicks insulted every witness called for the de:fence, asking them: such questions . as "How much of the German gold did you get for coming here to .give evidence?" Kinsella was sent to jail and his assailants went oft victorious.
PRICE ONE PENNY.
crime ; and Dr; Starkie did not refuse the honour. ·
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Dr. Starkie'.s -depa.rtinent has an ei~bo rate code, printed in a large volume, for governmg the. conduct of nation.~14 teachers . Government without law is Government without liberty, it is anarchy. Dr. Starkie's code is eighty years in existence. The Commissioners ca.n amend it as tlley please. · But the code is the law for . the conduct of National Teachers . It contains the terms of their co-ntract with the Board. Na- · tional Teachers are under no obligation to make their conduct agreeable to the variable political .Opinions of Dr. Starkie or of h·is ·colleagues. · l£ Dr. Starkie, on pain of starvation for teachers and , their families, exacts obedience to his·Qwn political decisions in-· matters outside of his published code, he· becomes an enemy Qf Ja.w and order, "openly hostile to th'e Government of the country." . .,. Dr. Starkie has been: repeatedly cli:allenged to . state wherein Mr . .O'Connell o:ftended against the code, and against what article, and has £ailed to meet the challenge.. One of his letters malres a plain confession of his failure, and this letter, as . shall· be seen, was written in consultation with Dublin Castle and partly -at tlie dictation of- Dublin . Castle. Tlie Castle, therefore, was also conscious . of tlie illegality of the perforinance, and encouraged Dr. Staxkie to be a law . to himself.
Dr. Starkie, adiministrative head of the Commissioners 0£ National .· Educa· tion, is free to hold any po1itical opinions or prejudices that a:re congenfal to him . He is ·not entitled to regulate his administrative action by his personal politics. When p.e attempts to do that, he strikes at liberty and becomes a tyrant. His tyra~y rria.y possibly have tbe sup• • • port 0£ his fellow-Commissioners. That You can imagine with what zeal a.nd does not make it less tyrannical. The ·zest_ .this promoter. of a:ftection for our old -W e;st ·Britons and the new ma·y hapworthy Government would take up any pen to enjoy a brief spell of rampant case in his district that would give him domination before the last winter of their the chance of securing a conviction, even ignominy · sets in. It really makes no di:fterence whether Dr. Starkie is alone on no better testimony than he produced in- his tryanny or has a thousand £ellow- in the - Kinselia case. There are Irish tyrants, dressed like himself in a litte Volunteers in C'ahirciveen a~d in most other parts of Kerry. Mr : Diarmuid brief authority. O'Connell, National Teacher, had been •. Again and again, when the a:ctions of assoc;iated with the Cahirci.veen . corps. Dr. Starkie's board have been challenged, l£ Inspector Hicks had seen any chance Mr. ·Birrell has declared that he has no o£ persuading a. paid magistrate to decide authority over the Board, and that the·y that .it was unlawful to be an. Irish Volunhave no responsibility to Dublin Castl~. teer, he would gladly ha~e g,ot Mr. 'A I shall show, nevertheless, that at the Q'-Connell and others sent to jail. privy investig'ation cif Dubll.n Castle- Dr. .less valiant course, les.s valiant even tha.n -Starkie has set up hims~l£ and his <l'e- the brave man and his witness.es · took partment as a political tribunar to · decide with Patrick Kinsella, was found suitable qi'lestions .of politics, finding a ve~dict for dealing with Mr. O'Connell. H e w~s i·e:~dy-mad·e and supplied · from Dublin reported to Dublin Castle. The methods Castle, announcing punishment amount- · of that grim old stronghold ._a:r~, as we irig to complete deprivation 'of livelihood, know on. authority, a continuity . Mr. and · playing the · part of executioner as T. P , O'Oonitor told us in. advance that • • • we.U- as th~· parts of . policeman, prosec~ Sir Matth<;iw Nathan's Oriental ·experiDr. Staxfie is not one of tlie King's tor, judge and jury. ence would be useful m dealing witll judges. He is . not even one of tlie * * * Ireland . I ~ave already dealt -with .the blackCastle's _paid m:;igistrates . He. is _not a • • • guardly miJSconduct of Police Inspector Mr. Birrell's subordinate found the policeman, except for tlle occasion. Yet Hicks, of Cahirciveen. Let me recall the proper Oriental method for. disposing of he is able to ar,rive. a.t _a legal . decision, Some Mr. O'Connell. He put his confidence -in and to sentence his cri:n;iinal to a terrifycase tci the memory' of readers. E_nglish naval seamen, one ·of ·them a Dr. Starkie. It is a:q. essential feature. of ini;r punishment. H e pronounced . tlie · proved· ·bad lot; were boozing around the Castle regime in Ireland -to degrade judgment tliat Mr_. O'Conpell, by associaCahirciveen. They went into a public- and humiliate every man whom it em- tion, was. " open:ly: hostile· to the . Govern- . ·house there, and used language gnissly ploys . to cari:y out its political . pro- ment of the country and to recruitment insulting to Irishmen . One of them said gramme. Dr. Starkie was privily en- ·for the forces of the Crown .'' It would that the place for the Irish was under the gag-ed to do what the high-minded Hicks be waste of time to ask wllat are Dr. feet of the English. Their conduct wa~ could not do, and what the law ·officers of Starkie's qualifications to pronounce · resented by an .Arklow fisherman -named - the Castle could not do; to con:vict Mr. judgment in sucll grave mattePs, · and, P atrick Kinsella.- They set upon Kin- O'Connell of. a crime outside the ·law-and what prncess of investiga.tion and trial sella, knocked him down-; and kicked ·h im to punish him and his family for tliat enabled him to, pronounce judgment. He 't
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