A chara, - I read with interest Kevin Myers's recent comments on Rudyard Kipling, poet of Empire and the darling of the ruling establishment in London at the beginning of this century. Kipling's writings reveal at its worst the mentality of those in England and Ireland who supported imperialism and its evil influence throughout the world. One of his charming poetic references is: "for all his dirty hide, he was white, white, white inside". This referred to a pro-British Indian who must have been somewhat like those in Ireland who backed British Rule here. But then again the good Indian was one of the "lesser breeds outside the law". Studying Kipling's writings, one is left with the impression that not just Ireland, but humanity in general owes a debt of gratitude to the men of 1916 who first challenged the might of Empire and set in train a series of events that brought about its eventual and unlamented demise.
One point of interest about Kipling however, is that he seemed to have mellowed with age, especially after the death of his eldest son, killed in action during the first world war. Possibly in old age he realised that there was nothing noble about the Empire, but that it was a great money-making racket! He wrote one intriguing poem which should be of great interest to your readers. It is called The Dead Statesman and goes as follows:
I could not work, I dared not rob
Therefore I lied to please the mob!
Now all my words are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale can serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
I wonder, when he wrote that poem, had he in mind a certain politician now beloved of our Irish revisionists? This man in 1914, without any authority from the Irish people effectively declared war on Germany and lured tens of thousands of unfortunate Irishmen to a horrific death in the trenches, putting forward the great lie that it was a war "for the freedom of small nations".
In truth, it was a clash of Imperialist Empires and the war was absolutely of no concern to the Irish people. And those who caused and fomented the horrific slaughter of the working classes of Europe were a gang of what James Connolly rightly described as "Royal Free-Booters and Metropolitan Thieves".
Cad a cheapann tu faoi seo, a Chaoimhin? - Is mise, Padraig O Cuanchachain,
Sean Bothar na hEochaille, Corcaigh.