The Irish standard., 1916-07-08
The manifesto Of the Irish volun-

The manifesto Of the Irish Volun-
teers promulgated at public meeting
in Dublin on November 25, 1913, stat
ed with sincerity the aims of the Or
ganization as outlined them.
THE government that permitted the
arming of those whose leaders de-
clared that, Irish national unity was q
thing that should be opposed by force
of arms, within nine days after the is
sue of our manifesto of good will to
Irishmen of every creed and class took
steps to nullify our effort by prohibit
ing the importation of arms into Ire
land as if it were hostile, blockaded
coast.
"Since lawlessness sat in high places
in England and laughed at the law as
a custodian's law, what wonder that
1rishmen refuse to accept the verbal
protestations of England's Lord Chan.
cellor as a sufficient safeguard for
their lives and liberties?
Il, for one, was determined Ireland
was much more to me than the EN-.
pire,' and If charity begins at home,
SO must loyalty. Since arms were so
necessary to make our organization
reality, it was our bounden duty to get
arms before all else.
Il decided, with this end in view, to
go to America, with surely better
right to appeal to Irishmen there for
help in the hour of our great national
trial than those ENJOYS of the EN-.
pire' could assert for their weakened
descents on Ireland or their appeals to
Germany.
within few weeks of my arrival
in the States a fund that had been
opened to secure arms for the volun-
teers in Ireland amounted to many
thousands Of pounds. In every case
the money subscribed, whether it
came either from the purse of wealthy
men or the still reader pocket of the
poor man. was Irish gold.
"Then came the war. As Birrell
said, The war has upset all our cal
culations.'
ut upset mine none the less than
Birrell's and put an end to my mission
and peaceful efforts in America.
"We had seen the working Of the
Irish Constitution in the refusal of the
army of occupation at Curragh to obey
the orders of the Crown. Now that
we were told it was to enter that army
in return for promissory note (pay-
able after death) scrap of paper that
might or might not be redeemed, felt
that in America my first duty was to
keep 1rishmen at home in the only
army that could safeguard our national
existence.
IF the small nationalities were to
be the pawns in this game of EN-
battle giants, 1 saw no reason why
Ireland should shed her blood in any
cause but her own, and if that be trea-
son beyond the seas am not ashamed
to avow it or to answer for it here
with my life.
"The difference between us was, that
the Unionist champions chose the path
that they felt would lead to the wool
sack, while l went the road that 1
knew must lead to the dock. And the
event proved that we were both right.
I'VE had been told and had been asked
to hope that after the war Ireland
would get home rule-as a reward of
her lifeblood shed for a cause, who.
ever else the success of which should
benefit, it surely cannot benefit Ire
land.
What will home rule be in return
for what the vague promise has taken
and still hopes to take away from Ire
land?
Home Rule, when it comes, if it
does, will find Ireland drained of ALL
that is vital to her very existence-un-
less 1t be that unquenchable hope that
we build on the graves of the dead,
We are told that if 1rishmen go by the
thousands to die, not for ireland, but
for Flanders and for Belgium-for a
patch of sand on the deserts of Meso-
potamia or a rocky trench on the
heights of Gallipoli-they will be win
ming self-government for Ireland.
But if they dare lay down their
lives on their native soil, if they dare
even dream that freedom can be won
only at home by men resolved to fight
for it there, then they are traitors to
their country.
IF we are to be indicted as crfmi.
nals-to be shot as murderers and inn
prisoned as convicts because the Of
Tense is that we love Ireland more than
we value our lives-then l know not
what virtue resides in any offer of
self-government held out to brave men
on such terms.
"Self.government is our right, a
thing born in us, no more to be do1ed
to us or withheld from us by another
people than right itself-than the right
! to feel the warmth of the sun or smell
! the fowers-or love our kind.
1T is only from the convict that
these things are withheld for a crime
committed and proven-and Ireland,
| that has wronged no man. iniured mn