The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1906-10-20

cTuit -heF IefceS, broken by the Beers
from the young men of Ireland today
So desperately in need of regiments
which she can ship at moments no.
tice to foreign war is she. that Ar
nold-Foster, her Minister for War. has
brought in new militia BILL making
it compulsory for militia regiments to
do foreign service.
BY this new bill. the English will nc
longer have TO bribe the irish to go
abroad. They viii compel them.
The militia regiments have ALWAYS
been meant to serve at home. and if
was forbidden by law to take them,
in time of war, beyond the sea with
out their own consent. The rule was
not observed. Many of the Irish mill
tia did not know the law. and thought
they We're bound to go abroad if their
officers ordered them. and in the Boer
war advantage was taken of their ig-
norance. A number of regiments We're
drafted abroad to help the English army
IN Egypt aid elsewhere. Thus, the
Irish militia were used. against the
law and without their consent. to give
aid in a war which the whole Irisn
people condemned as Unjust and dis
honorable. When they came 10 know
the law they refused to go on for
eign service. and no mole of them were
sent out.
This bill is TO make it law for the
first time that i'm time of war militia
regiments may be sent abroad for for
eign service without asking the con-
sent of then! men. The Irish militia
that the government will not trust in
their own country, are now to be forced
whenever another war arises, whether
just or unjust, whether with the friends
az Il haY,
ing at the other end of the earth for
the power of England.
Their policy today is the same as
the purpose Of the government long
ago. to weaken the Irish at home. to
tighten the hold of the English on the
country, and through the courage of
the Irish to win an empire for Eng
land abroad
lrlshmen see every year a strange
thing happen. which is unknown ex-
cept in Ireland These are the Irish
militia regiments. which ought to be
trained in the counties where they are
raised carried away to England for
their drill.
In time of war they see the same
regiments. which ought TO serve for the
defense of their own land, taken away
TO protect some English country, While
English militia are poured into ireland.
Lord Wolsley. when he was COM
mander-in-chief. said the Irish militia
We're removed for reasons which tie
war office dare not reveal Irishmen
know very well what these reasons
are. They know that the militia are
trained in England because of English
distrust of Irishmen, and that the mon
may be taught that they are not to
fight for their own contry or to nro-
tect it. 1t is the glory of soldiers
to stand as the unconquerable defence
of the land where they We're born. and
where their fathers graves lie: but the
Irish must learn to forget their own
homes and the relics of their fathers.
be the sorrows of their coun-
try, whatever mockery and contempt
is poured on their sufferings by Eng
iishmen, if the king takes oath that
their religion is blasphemy. if their
people fly in despair-begotten of pow
erty and want-across the seas. the
Irish militia must learn in England
that they have only one duty-to fight
for England and increase her empire
and her power TO hold down Ireland
The English commander-in-ch
does not like to tell this, but all Irish
men know it. They learned the secret
over a hundred years ago. when every
Irishman was given a big sum of
to leave his country for the
war with Napoleon, and as sure as the