The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-14

1 I had long believed that British fear | and jealousy of German naval pro- gress would bring war, and I had very
 frankly expressed in government cir | cles, as elsewhere. my opinions as 10
 the rightfulness or even sanity of Eng fish antagonism to Germany.
 Germany had never injured Eng | land, much less Ireland, and it was plain that she was being attacked not
 for the wrong she had done to oth- CTS. but from the hope those others
 held of doing injury to her.
 l Ireland was being appealed to by every agency of fear, of resentment, | of misplaced chivalry, of self-interest, to send hundreds of thousands of her | men to fight that, at the best, con- cerned her not at all.
 Home Rule a Bait. In return for the passage of the
 home rule bill into law" but not into l fact, it was being openly urged by
 English ministers and by the Eng | fish press that Irishmen should flock
 to the colors."
 This so-called home rule bill, against which the English oligarchy | (who had now declared war on Ger
 many) had arrayed for two years all
 the forces of wealth, bigotry and in- l tolerance, on the ground that even the ! shadow of an Irish parliament must | be prevented from taking shape in | Irish soil was now rushed through | both houses of parliament in the open- | ly avowed hope of entrapping thous-
 ands of young Irishmen into the Brit
 ish army, on the ground that England | had at length granted national free
 dom" to Ireland.
 | I sought to meet this dishonest ef-
 fort to betray my countrymen into the
 ranks of an army of aggression being
 massed for dishonest attack upon a | people with whom Irtshmen had no
 just cause of quarrel, by two public l letters addressed through the Irish press to Irishmen, in wl-ich I begged | them to stay at home and leave Eng | land to fight her own wars of aggres-
 sion.
 The first of these letters reached its destination and was published in the Dublin Irish Independent" of Octo- ! Der 5, 1914. (The steps taken against | myself by the British government on the publication of this letter must defer dealing with to a later period).
 This first hurried letter followed with
 more carefully drafted statement of i opinion written rom New York, which I hoped might !: ppear in the l Irish press and might crve to keep
 Irishmen from enlisting in bad cause. My later letter, however. failed to reach the Irish press, owing to the vigilance of the British censorship. Soon afterward I embarked for Ger many. Letters alone, saw, could not | keep Irishmen at home or meet the I numerous agencies of calumny and i'll | will that were being employed to plunge them into the shamb1es of a
 war of unparalleled snisery and de- struction.
 Easement Against War. My object was a peaceful. not bel ligerent one. Not to 'foment a rebellion in Ire-
 land." as some of my ignorant critics
 have asserted. but so far as possfpre
 to keep Ireland at peace and Irishmen
 out of the war was my intent by plac- ing before my countrymen a clear and authoritative statement of German aims that might go far to meet the hood of misrepresentations being steadily poured over Ireland by the
 British governm mt. believed that | if could reach Germany and state
 these objects to the German govern ment, I should not fail % accomplish something of what hoped to achieve. I hoped that the German govern ment might be induced to make clear its peaceful intention toward Ireland and that the effect of such a pro- nc uncement in Ireland itself might be powerful enough to keep Irishmen from readily volunte ring for a war
 that had no claim upon their patriot | ism or their honor. With this aim chiefly in view, I cane to Germany in November, 1914, and I succeeded in my purpose. | The German government declared openly its good will toward Ireland l and in convincing ternno.