NEITHER IN IRELAND ROT here is the centenary of John
Redmond —he was born on September 1, 1856—likely to be widely celebrated : indeed, his name is almost forgotten here. Yet how very near he was to going down to history as the founder of a new nation! Home Rule was actually on the Statute Book; had it not been for the 1916 rebellion, Redmond conceivably might have been the first Premier of the Dominion of Ireland. As it turned out, his influence dwindled rapidly after 1916; in elections his Irish Party was crushed by Sinn Fein; and in 1918 he died. I am inclined to think that his story is not without relevance to Cyprus today. It is all very well to argue that Archbishop Makarios ought not to have condoned violence— let alone been mixed up in it himself. But could Makarios have exerted any influence if he had swum against the stream? Certtainly the Irish bishops, many of whom were unsparing in their denunciation of violence in similar circumstances, carried no weight; and John Redmond, whose influence as leader of the Irish Party had appeared to be paramount, was left stranded by the tide of militant republicanism as soon as it began to flow in 1916: a pathetic figure.
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