In 1880, when Mr. John Dillon entered the British Parliament, the British Government officially returned the population of Ireland as 5,202,648 souls. Last year (1917) the same Government officially returned the population of Ireland as 4,337,000. Ireland has therefore lost 1,865,648 people, or nearly one-sixth of her population, since Mr. Dillon entered the British Parliament.
In 1880, when Mr. Dillon entered the British Parliament, the revenue, according to the British Government official returns, collected from Ireland for the maintenance of that Government was £6,036,213. In 1917 the revenue collected, according to the official returns of that Government was £23,766,500. For the year 1918-19 the estimated revenue of Ireland will be £35,000,000.
In 1880, when Mr. Dillon entered the British Parliament, the men and boys in Ireland numbered 2,551,800. In 1907 the number was officially returned as 2,139,000, a decrease in the ‘man-power’ of 412,800.
In 1881, the census year following the entry of Mr. Dillon to the British Parliament, the population of Cavan was officially returned as 129,476. In 1911, after Mr. Dillon had spent 30 years in the British Parliament, the population of Cavan had been reduced to 91,376, or by one-fourth.
In the same period what happened in England? In 1881 England had a population of 25,968,000. In 1911 the population had increased to 36,070,492. That is, while Mr. Dillon was sitting in the English Parliament, that Parliament was decreasing Ireland’s population by one-sixth and increasing England’s population by one-third.
Take it another way. When Mr. Dillon entered the British Parliament there were 159 people to the square mile in Ireland, while there were 445 to the square mile in England. Now there are 134 to the square mile in Ireland and 618 to the square mile in England. While Mr. Dillon sat in the English Parliament Ireland has lost 25 human beings to every square mile, and England has gained 173 human beings to every square mile.
Yet another way. When Mr. Dillon entered the British Parliament there were in Ireland one Irishman to every five Englishmen in England. There is now but one Irishman to nine Englishmen.
When Mr. Dillon entered the British Parliament, that Parliament was taxing the people of Ireland £1 3s. per head. On the 31st of March, 1917, it had increased the tax to £5 18s. 6d. per head. In the present financial year the tax per head of the Irish people is estimated to reach some £8 per head.
Briefly put, since Mr. Dillon entered the British Parliament, Ireland has lost more men and women in proportion to her population than Germany, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and England have lost in the great war. Ireland, since Mr. Dillon entered that Parliament, has also had her taxation increased seven-fold. Simultaneously England’s population increased by eleven millions of people, and England’s wealth trebled.
If Mr. Dillon’s 37 years of service to the English Parliament has resulted in the loss of one-sixth of the Irish population and the increase of Ireland’s tax burden to an extent that now leaves Ireland the most heavily-taxed country in the world—if Ireland, after Mr. Dillon’s 37 years of supporting English Liberal Ministries and becoming the dupe of English policy, has greater losses to show in man-power and in money than any nation in Europe—would the Irish people be a sane people to continue the policy of Parliamentarianism for which Mr. Dillon stands, or would they justify Dean Swift’s bitter epigram:—
‘He gave the little wealth he had
To build a house for fools and mad,
To show by one satiric touch
No nation needed it so much.’
We leave it to East Cavan to answer, but we know what the answer will be. The British Parliament is the grave of Irish hope, Irish energy, Irish wealth, and the Irish people. It has been the Great Delusion of the Irish mind politic for years. Cavan will dispel it for ever and, by making the Irish mind free, ensure the ultimate freedom of the Irish body.
[The Editor of ‘Nationality’ was arrested at midnight on Friday in his own house. He was torn away from the bosom of his family without word, warning, or investigation of any kind, and taken to a British warship at Kingstown, whence he was deported with many other friends and fellow-patriots to some unknown destination. He was not permitted to send any message to his relatives or associates, and we have received no communication from him of any description, written or spoken. He had, however, long foreseen the events which have occurred, and had made full provision for carrying on his work during his absence. He has meanwhile left behind him imperishable records to guide us, and a personal example of inflexible rectitude to inspire us. We are confident that he and his noble companions in exile will return in triumph. He had nearly completed this week’s issue of ‘Nationality,’ and we publish above as leading article the Notes exactly as he drafted them on the subject of East Cavan, for the vacancy of which he was, and is, a candidate. We present them to our readers with the intimation that they are the last words which he has written—his farewell message to East Cavan and to Ireland before the latest deportation from our Small Nationality.]