The Irish standard., 1917-08-04

At the Request Of Dr.. Patrick Mccar-
tan, Of County Tyrone, Ire, Who
Came to This Country Short While
Ago as the Representative Of the
Provisional Government Of the Irish
Republic" Senator Lewis of Illinois
Presented in the Senate Last Week,
the Following Petition, and Asked
That 1t Be Printed in the Congress
sionaI Record, Viz:
Dublin, Ireland, June 10, 1917.
ITO the President and Congress of the
United States.
Gentlemen: We, the undersigned,
who have been held in English pris-
ons and have been dragged from dun
geon to dungeon in heavy chains, cut
off since Easter week, 1916, from all
intercourse with the outside world,
have just had an opportunity of seeing
the printed text of the message of the
United States of America to the pro-
visional government of Russia.
eve see that the President accepts
as the aim of both countries the carry
ing of the present struggle for the
freedom of all peoples to successful
consummation.' We also see that the
object of President Wilson's own gov
eminent is the liberation of peoples
everywhere from the aggressions of au
tocratic forces we are fighting
writes the president to the government
of Russia, for the liberty, self-govern-
ment, and indicated development of
all peoples, an every feature of the
settlement that concludes this war
must be conceived and executed for
that purpose. Wrongs must first be
righted and then adequate safeguards
must be created to prevent their be-
ing committed again. Remedies must
be found, as we'll as statements Of
principle that will have pleasing and
sonorous sound No people must be
forced under sovereignty under
which it does not wish to live.'
1--WE trust that such remedies-in
preference to any governmental pro-
fession whatsoever-will be held to
include the right of each people, not
merely to rely on other peoples to sup
port their claim to national liberty
but, what the governments and peo-
pies Of other nations will, we trust,
regard as even more sacred, the right
of each people to defend itself against
external aggression, external interfer
ence, and external control. 1t is this
particular right that we claim for the
Irish people, and not content with
statements of principle-though these
themselves may be made pretext for
our oppression-we are engaged and
mean to engage ourselves in the prac-
teal means for establishing this right
without awaiting the issue of the
war or the settlement that may con-
clude the war, we ask of the Govern
ment of the United States of America
and the governments Of the free peo-
pies of the world to take immediate
rately and on the spot about the extent
of liberty or attempted repression
which we may encounter.
eve, the undersigned, are officers
Gust released from English prisons)
of forces formed independently in Ire
land to secure the complete liberation
of the Irish nation.
Edward de Valera, Eoin MacNeill,
Denis O'Callaghan, James Lawless,
Robert Brennan, M. d. de Lacy, Fin
ian Lynch, Frank Fahy, Thomas Hunt
err, John R. Buckingham, Richard F.
King, John McEntee, Richard Hayes,
James Doyle, Peter Galligan, Thomas
Ashe, jeremiah C. Lynch, Richard
Coleman, George Irvine, Con. Collins,
Austin Stack, John McGarry, Desmond
Fitzgerald, Frank Thornton, Frank
Lawless and James ]. Walsh"