I. WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH IRELAND
II. SINN FEIN AND REVOLUTION
III. IRISH LABOR AND CLASS REVOLUTION
IV. AE'S PEACEFUL REVOLUTION
V. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND COMMUNISM
VI. WHAT ABOUT BELFAST?
ELECTED GOVERNMENT
OF
THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
(AMERICAN DELEGATION)
January 29, 1920.
_Miss Ruth' Russell,
Chicago, Illinois_.
Dear Miss Russell:
I have read the advance copy of your book, "What's the Matter with
Ireland?", with much interest.
I congratulate you on the rapidity with which you succeeded in
understanding Irish conditions and grasped the Irish viewpoint.
I hope your book will be widely read. Your first chapter will be
instructive to those who have been deceived by the recent cry of Irish
prosperity. Cries of this sort are echoed without thought as to their
truth, and gain credence as they pass from mouth to mouth. I hope we
shall have many more impartial investigators, such as you, who will
take the trouble to see things for themselves first hand, and who will
not be imposed upon by half-truths.
Having visited Ireland, I feel you cannot doubt that the poet was
right--
"There never was a nation yet
Could rule another well."
I imagine, too, that having seen the character of British rule there,
you must realize better than before what it was your American patriots
of '76 hastened to rid themselves of. In a country with such natural
resources as Ireland, can you believe it possible that if government by
the people obtained there could be such conditions of unemployment and
misery as you found?
Do you not think that if the elected Government of the Republic were
left unhampered by foreign usurpation, we might in the coming years
hope to rival the boast of Lord Clare in 1798:
"There is not a nation on the face of the habitable globe which has
advanced in cultivation, in manufactures, with the same rapidity in
the same period as Ireland--from 1782 to 1798."
and that progress like this, with the present social outlook in
Ireland, would mean the peace, contentment and happiness of millions of
human beings?
Yours very truly,
(Signed) EÁMON DE VALÉRA.