EDITED BY . EOlN MAC Vol. 2. · No,, 65 (New Series).
PRlCE ONE PENNY. -
SATURDAY, MARCH 41]1, 1916.. . ~
Sir Edward Fr;f " We are figiftjng for liberty abroad w.hilst we are strangling'it at home by a series of en~ctments "·hich place the liberty of the subject in the hands, not of the Judges, but The "Irish Times,, played a 'very amusing of the officials of the Government." . And Sir game over the North Louth election. During the Edward Fry quotes the autJ:iority of Hal.lam with contest it printed an inspired paragraph . in . it.s . .refe1•ence .to Habeas Corpus:_"If ever tempo.rary London letter, . saying that the Irish Party circumstances, or the doubtful pl.ea of pGlitical leadgrs were anxious about the - ~~esult, and inti- · necessity, shall lead men to. look q.n its denial mating that the support of the Unionist vote for with apathy, the most distinguishing characterthe Party candidate would be' very gratifying. istic of our -Constitutio"n will be effaced ." · The It also published a letter from a .-Mr. Moore, a Government has found · no. difficulty in keeping Unionist,. claiming the suppoi·t of the Unionist J'.!len imprisoned without tri al here in Ireland. voters for the Irish Party nominee: Then when No matter what H a llam or Sir ;Edward Fry mal the election of the tried ap.d experienced repre- · say, the Castle lawyers know that '.' our Const1sentative man fr.om a differe:µt part of the • tution" i.n Ireland is and· always _ has. been a country was announced,. and the family financial Hypocritical S4am . · · difficulty triumphantly settled, and when faction, * _ which received its deatb,-blow in Nor.th Louth . One .of these lawyers, at· the trial ~f Mr. four years ago at the hands of Mr. Hazleton, had MacSwiney in Cork, accused him of .inciting to ·received a~1other final blow at the hands of lVIr. the 'mmde1: of Mr. John Redmond. · The Dublin !fazleton's nephew, the ". Irish Times?' turned '-'Independent " printed this ac.c usation · as right round and administered a long editoriai ·_,. though it had appeared in evid·e nce. '.; Mr. lecture to Messrs. Redmond, ·Dillon and Devlin, MacSwiney wrote a letter of protest to the" Indeon the enormity of endowing their latest young pendent." The Eaitor pril).ted the letter with an man with £400 a year instead ·of sending him to edftorial note saying that :iY.fr. l\1acSwiney's profill .a gap, avert disgrace from Ireland, and prove test was "mentlacious.' 1 Then Mr, MacSwiney's that Ireland is, or may yet be, worthy of Home solicitoi· wrote t·o the " Inaependeht " ·sU.bstanRule and the Act which rests securely ·on the tiating the protest, and the · " Independent" was Statute Book and guarantees Ireland the 1·igh.t forced iro admit that the ev:idenc·e produced by of paying for years to come Eighteen Millions of ·. the Crown did not prove or attempt to prove that -annual taxatio.n ~nd _as' fuuch more as may be Mr . l\facSwiney had said anything suggesting, added in futm:e Budgets. It is all very well for even' in the' most remote way, that Mr. ;Redmond the " Irish Times" to jibe at Mr. Dillon and Mr : should be .molested, much less murdere.d .. We Devlin, and 'tG foreshado_w ..t4e. rea!lin,~ss of the ·have come -upon str:'f,!lge tim:es \Vlren Irrslfrnen of Unionists to Liinerick the Roine Rule treaty the highest charactei· are represented as murwhen their cha11ce comes. But · why did the derers, and when the answer tQ their protest is. "Irish Times " make itself the channel of advice to call them liars. It is all so well calculated to to the Unionist voters to vote for the Young Man make Ireland fall in love with the true Empire who ought to be defending the Empire in the patriotism preached by Mr . Birrell. *. trenches ? If these things af-e done in the green "* * wood, what will be done in the dry? Already we Mr . Drury is the Dublin Stipendiary Magishave plain enough proofs of the intention to trate who did his best- some time ago, in ·consanaoag the men- whom Mr. Redmond has iri- junction with a Castle lawyer, to intimidate duced to man the sandbags. At the same time a witness in a grossly and scandalously illegal we read tha t a man who has previously sat in fashion. Last week Mr. I}rury tried a young Parliament as a Libetal is now going forward for man for the offence of r eceiving a rifle from a a vacant English seat as a Unionist, and that his soldier. The evidence, . as reported, was practiunopposed return is expected. cally this : The defendant asked the soldier to · .* · * * get him a rifle. The soldiei· got ·him a rifle, and
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NOTES
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Sir Morgan O'Connell writes from .Killai-ney to
then became a witness for the prosecution . . M:r.
the London "Times." "Recruiting, " he says, "in this county, with- a population of 165,000, is dead. Many causes have helped to kill it." Sir Morgan is modest enough to _name only one of the many causes. "J;he. op~n }!nd avowed pi:oGerman, anti-recruiting, Sinn Fein element has been allowed to spread and to spread until every village in K erry is rotten with it." Sir Morga1t thinks that 165,000 is too large a population for Kerry. In Daniel O'Connei.l's lifetime, Kerry had a popula tion of more than 300,000. Since then some . O'Connells have become what Daniel O'Connell u sed to call " base Whigs. " Sir Morgan need not be downhearted. Things are not quite so bad. in Kerry as he imagines. The 'population figures which he give-s are those of the Census of 1901. Since then there has been a great improvement. In 1911 the disgraceful sur- plus has been reduced by another 5,000, and ' there is no reason to believe· that this rate of progress has not been maintained up to date. Altoget~er, in Sir Morgan's own time, the overp9pulat10n of Kerry has been reduced by from 40,000 to 50,000: Sir Morgan says that he wrote to the Lord Lieutenant last May' warning him to suppress public meetings. He prints the Vicer9y's reply, which he plainly thinks unsatisfactory, f~r he follows up with a ferocious jibe '.1t the Chief _Secretary. Perhaps, if the public mterest permits and there is no fear of impartinoundesirable information to the enemy, now that Sir Morgan has pi;rblishe_d the ~ Viceroy's· reply; the Government will be mduced to publish the letter t o which that reply was written . Thouo-h Kerry i_s rotten with Sinn Fein, and Sir Morg';;'.n from his comfortable home in Killarney writes urging the British Government to dragoon the coun~y as the best means of getting recruits and backmg up Mr. John Redmond, whom Sir Morg;an C?~mends, the only danger· that Sir Morgan hyes is 111 the danger ~f explosive laughter. Let Sir Morgan con~ole himself with the reflection that :111 the. depopulation he can reasonably expect is provided for by the new taxation of Ireland .
Drury imposed the maximum sentence of six months' imprisonment, giving as his reason that the defendant took up a ·defiant attitude and ·produced no witnesses . . 'fhere is nothing like making the British · Government thoroughly popular, and .it is a re~l misfortune that we have not many more Stipendiary Drurys.
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Right alongside of Sir Morgan;s letter the " Times " happened to print these words' in a letter from an eminent English Unionist 1awyer,
courage them 'for thei1' help to the Empire . Oh! tl;iey are brave rrien," arld outspoken, and true to Ireland, those leaders! We are denied selfgovernment, and · the money taken from us is given to the self-governing Colonies. The Hoi::ne Rule Act is suspended till St. Patrick's Day. "'.
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The London pa1:agraph-mongers have a new ver~ · sion of. the old story about Sir Roger Casement .. ·· We were told before that Germany offered IreJ land qomplete i ndependence. Independence sou11ds better than ·paying Eight Millions a year, and whatever more is to be added, and getting nothing for it. E;o the story hag tO be amended 1 a s if i_t was a real English _treaty ' signed ·and registered. The new version says that the Ger·maris wish to anriex Ireland for st1,ategic purposes, but will give us Home Rule. Silly Germans! Aren't we going to get Home Rule on Patrickts Day? Having annou nced this programme to the Irish prisoners, Sir Roger was promptly " mauled " by them. N e:x:t time the story. appears, it will tell us that the Germans· have promised to let us off witli Eight Millions of an annual tribute, and that Sir Roget Casement, when he. told this to the'I:i:ish prisoners, was immediately· asphyxiated. Eorn -MAc NEILL . . ::
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THE DUBLIN BRICADE. ~
ORDERS
FOR WE EK ENDING 5th MARCH, 1916.
1. Classes as usual. · 2. Usual Lectures for Officers on Tuesday and Saturday, at 8 p.m. 3. Tuesdayh 7th March, will be a closed night for drill, as t e Emmet Commemoration Concert takes place on that night. E . DE VALERA, Brigade Adjt.
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Cumann. na. ·mBa~
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· Perh,aps it · will not be unseasonable a6 thi;s-
time, when there is so much talk of recruiting,,
to say a few words on the subject from our own platform. Within the past few months several' new Branches of Cumann na mBan have been started, and as '' nothing succeeds like success, ''1 let us n,ow gather up all our strength for the work that is before us; let us throw in. all our efforts and let us bring in everyone we can with * * us. As individuals we can - do much, but far I am beginning to think that, just as the -Ulster more . can we do by forming ourselves intP' Conspiracy and the Curragh Conspiracy exploded Branches of Cumann na· mBan and working to~ the Constitution sham, so .the apparently success- wards the one end which we all have so much at ful domin~tion of the ·Irish P arty leaders by the heart. The Executive meets every Tuesday at Whig Ministry has benefitted Ireland by bursting 2 D!).wson Street; at. 3.30. Their work depends almost entirely on the activities of the Branches, up a still more dangerous sham. Mr. Redmond's surrender policy · has induced the forees of and as they are always ready to direct and attend Whiggery all over Ireland to break cover and to · to the needs of the various Branches, they· "hope the Secretaries will not be shy in putting before fully expose their position . ~f the. Sharp Curve h ad been a deep laid strategem for decoying the them any questions about the orga,nisation 01· Whigs into the open, it could not have been more asking their advice as to ahy suggestions they may have in furthering the objects for which we successful. It has, indeed, been " a test to stand. · search men's· souls," a surprise inspection, and I would advise the Secretary of each Branch to the results of the test are well and fully keep the constitution of the organisation con'recorded . stantly before the minds of the member·s, so tha,t * * * they can see if they are really carrying out what The Government is borrowing 420 millions to pay for another few months fighting, and is is incumbent on them. Take, for instance . thi's week, one important item of our programme=-:getting ready a new Budget to raise fresh taxes. i.e., L.....e arming and equipment of the Irish Ireland is already required to pay t en pounds a Volunteers. Now every Branch of Cumann na: house to finance this war, · "Ireland's war." Some people may imagine . that these taxes will mBan ought to put it before themselves to dOtheir share of this with regard to · the local corps· not be required when the war is over. If the Empire was to emerge from the wii.r with a ll the of Volunteers. Therefore, for this reason alone,. triumphant success that was prophesied to bull- it is ·m ost important to have Branches of Cumann dose the leaders of the Irish P arty, the added na mBan all over the country. Existing Branches should send for leaflets, which set forth the aims war-taxes would still be impo ~ed until most of us and activities of Cumann na mBan and which we now a live would be dead and bui-ied. We no longer read about the Allies .Ciictating terms in possess in abundance, &nd distribute .....em at Berlin, and Mr. Redmond now knows that he church doors and at fairs z.-::d markets and aIF was humbugged. That means .that the taxes will Tound the country, as they ·see an qpport·u nity, in· have to ·be horne for many deca des.' Let the order to spread the propaganda . Send up any names and addresses of people who are sympaJ beggarman carry his bag. We never asked for this war, and to make us pay for it is sheer thetic and the Secretary can send down literature robbery. We are told a lot about the grand part and any information required. There are hundreds of ways of forwarding the movement. Set tha.t is being played by the Colonies. The people to work · seriously and you can do much. A of Ireland would wait long until Mr. Redmond, Mr. Dillon, and Mr. Devlin would stir them up pamphlet setting fortli our aspirations is being written, and will shortly be on sale. Put such to the fact that while Ireland is being fleeced for the war, the. money taken from us is going in literature in the hands of your friends who have· large loans to the Colonies to reward and · en- not yet come into the " firing-line."