TEXAS AND IRELAND.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] think the following letter which appeared in the New York Times of September 20th last will interest your readers :— " The old Greeks believed that the High Gods were occa-
sionally much amused with the performances of mortals. One of the things that must excite their risibilities is the recent performance of the Texas Senate in extending its sympathy to Ireland and wishing for ' freedom ' for that country. Nosv the truth is that Ireland has far more liberal repre- sentation in the British Parliament than Texas has in the two Houses of Congress in Washington; and the only reason why Ireland has not long since had a local Parliament such as Texas has is because there are one million Protestants in Ireland who refuse to submit themselves to the control of three and one-half million Catholics. In the year 1800 the Irish Parliament passed an Act uniting the island with England, Scotland and Wales, and this was confirmed by the British Par- liament in the following year, and has lasted 120 years. From the time Texas obtained her independence, in 1936, till 1845 it was an independent Republic. In 1845 the Congress of Texas passed a resolution asking to be united with the United States of America, and this was made a law by Act of Congress in 1846. This union continued until 1861, when Texas withdrew there- from. But the people of the northern part of the United States were just as much opposed to the secession of Texas as the people of England are opposed to the secession of Ireland; and after four years of bloody war Texas was persuaded to come back into the Union, and Texas is as loyal thereto now as any portion of it. But if twenty or thirty thousand of the people of Texas should arm themselves, should burn Federal buildings and assassinate Federal officers, just as the people of the southern part of Ireland are doing with the British buildings and officers, I am inclined to think that the performance would he stopped with such overwhelming force and so little delay that it would hardly have time to get started.
H. N. Ammon.
" Houston, Texas, September 16th, 1920."
—I am, Sir, Sc., Z.
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