On Thursday, American Independence Day, the Lord Mayor of Dublin
published to the world the appeal on behalf of the Irish Nationalists and Sinn Feiners which he had originally intended to convey in person to Washington. As we have said before, we could wish that the Foreign Office, instead of demanding the submission of this document before the Lord Mayor was given his passports, had done everything in their power to expedite the Lord Mayor's journey. As it is, the Lord Mayor presented his petition to the American Ambassador in London, and presumably it has been conveyed to President Wilson. The Nationalists and Sinn Feints who have signed it no doubt thought that the publication on Inde- pendence Day would be a brilliant stroke of appropriateness. We fancy, however, that every American who reads it will ransack his memory in vain for an act of equal inopportuneness. It would be idle, even if we had the space, to summarize the document. It is a rhapsody of irrationality, false argument, and perverted history. No one can say, of course, what line President Wilson may thinki t wise to take in acknowledging this singular document, but his acts are already the only answer that is required.
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