SINN FEIN IN AUSTRALIA.
LTo THE EDIIOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")
am enclosing you a copy of a portion of a letter from an old pupil of mine, a prosperous lawyer in Australia for the last quarter of a century, as it may be not without interest for you to learn first hand from a clever man the part being played in Australia by the Roman Catholic Church. You will see that the Irish Roman Catholics were quite loyal for the first year, and that it was entirely due to their clergy that the reaction set in. As you have dealt so courageously with the Irish question and its real crux, you will, I trust, forgive me for thus intruding on you. Mr. A. J. P. Macdonnell, the writer of the letter, authorized me in it to make any use that I thought fit of it.-1 am, Sir, &c.,
Wosaan RIDGEWAY, Sc.D., F.B.A., Hon. LL.D.. Hon. Litt.D., &c.,
Professor of Archaeology and BreretonReader in Classics in the University of Cambridge, &e.
"Flendyshe, Fen Ditton, Cambridge.
P.S.—Archbishop Mannix's letter is now being circulated in thousands in Ireland. This I know from a high Irish official.
" North Queensland, 13 March, 1918.
It is quite a long time since I wrote to you, so I thought you might be interested to learn at first hand what happened to Conscription in Australia, or rather the true reasons why the country rejected it. The country itself is as sound as a bell. . . . The reasons of rejection were : Referendum qua Referendum, the Irish vote, Hughes's personal character, the woman's vote, ignorance. It is difficult to name the most potent of these causes—the second I should say, that is, the Irish vote, with Hughes's personal unpopularity running well up. A Referendum on_ a subject such .as Conscription does not show the considered opinion of the community. It emphasizes and educes the selfishness in every voter. Too often the man who would vote for John Smith as a candidate upholding Conscription inter alia as against John Jones advocating anti-Conscription inter alia would vote against Conscription when the proposition is put baldly before him. He becomes concentrated on leis individual interests. Just before the first Conscription vote, too, Hughes called out all the available men for training, and thus dislocated every industry in the country. He showed the worst possible form that Con- scription could take before •asking for a vote on it. Every farmer in the country cursed him, even when •they believed in his policy. People did not forget this on the second occasion, as you may believe. Still, the country was so sound that this forced concen- tration on individual interests would not have affected the issue —apart from other causes. It is the spawn of Maynooth that has done most of the damage. In the first few days—before England declared war—the whole country was in intense anxiety lest she should not do so. Was she about to show the mean commercialism that the left wing of the Labour Party accused her of ? Was she going back on France ? (Had England not declared war she would have frayed the `painter ' to a shred—an alliance with America was in contemplation.) When war was declared there were no more enthusiastic supporters of Imperial policy than the Irish in Australia. People who at home would have been rank Fenians became fervent loyalists. A change came after the first twelve months. Gradually the poison spread, disseminated by the young lions or young—otherwise—of Maynooth. The R.C. Irish became slack, and after the Irish rebellion became actively disloyal, i.e. as a body, say sixty per cent. of the men and ninety per cent. of the women. The priests got actively and openly to work. Women were prevented from working for the Red Cross and kindred associations. One decent working man's wife told mine that she was told by Father X.: Why should she give anything to help England 1 They were going to have their own country in a short time and put the English out of it. The priests have done their work thoroughly. Naturally sectarianism is prevalent, especially in Queensland. No Roman Catholic, except one of proved and open loyalty, has any chance of election to any local body—that is in those -municipal elections which have ptopel•ty as the basis of voting-power. A clean sweep of them has been made throughout the country. It is to be remembered, too, that this voting is on a very democratic basis—any occupier of a house has a vote.* No person can have more than three votes. There are a large number of Roman Catholics who have remained absolutely loyal—perhaps forty per cent. of the mankind is an over-generous computation. These people have behaved very well, and are utterly ashamed of the general Irish attitude. A Roman Catholic Supreme Court Judge—Heydon—administered a most dignified and scathing re- buke to Archbishop Mannix, the head and front of offending in this sort. The reply was extremely poor= sure he wasn't an • Irishman at all.' " • If the occupier votes, the owner cannot.
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