The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-12-29

ed in Dublin on Easter Monday, April
"a, 1916, is the goal towards which
Ireland has directed her footsteps, and
the determination to reach that goal,
at whatever cost, displayed by her
young men during the last twenty
compromise, which she would not
think of two years ago. And it is a
compromise she offers, instead of the
concession of Ireland's demand.
Due to Military Necessity,
England's military situation is a
most important consideration which
enters largely into her motives. To
put it mildly, the war is not going to
her satisfaction and has taken a sharp
turn for the worse. Her own man.
power is practically exhausted; she
needs men, and she only knows one
place where she thinks she can get
them. There are about 100000 men
in Ireland, among the finest military
material in the world, but she can't
get them now because they refuse to
fight for her. She has to keep in Ire
land an army that she sorely needs i'll
France and Flanders for the sole pur
pose of holding these young men down.
To get them into her army by force
would require at least 100000 more
British soldiers, and the result then
would be in doubt. If she succeeded
| in IN,
front she could not depend on them
and their presence might bring dis
aster.
So she wants to buy them, but in
sists on doing it cheap. She is not
willing to pay the price and hopes that
Ireland will act on the old principle
that half loaf is better than no
bread" No one who really knows the
Ireland Of today-the renovated Ire
land that emerged from Easter Week
believes that the men in whose keep.
ing she has placed her destinies will
accept the half loaf instead of their
country's full rights.
ireland Must Get Fair Play Here.
So the events that will follow the
presentation of the Report of Lloyd
Georges Convention" and the action
taken on it by the British Parliament
will open a new phase of the Irish
Question. The part to be played by
the Irish in America will necessarily
be most important. They must see
that Ireland gets fair play here and
must Illustrate Lord Northcliffe's plans
to stifle free discussion and deceive
Ireland and Europe by a false presen-
tation of American opinion That is
the game that Northcliffe is up to, and
his control of so many American daily
papers and thoroughly organized
English propaganda makes him a for
midable antagonist. But the Irish in
America, properly organized and led,
perfectly competent to defeat him.
They beat him and his press last No
vember and they can do it again.
The Irish Question must be decided
by the free and untrammelled votes
and action of the men and women of
Ireland-all of them, not the limited
number allowed to vote by laws and
regulations made in London. What
ever we Irish do in America must
have that end in view A settlement
based on any other principle or meth
cd can never be final and must leave
the Irish Question still OPEN 1t is to
the interest of the whole civilized
world that it should be settled right.
Northcliffe's Alleged Endorsements.
|
agreement of the Convention, it is
charged that Lord Northcliffe has pro-
cured number of Endorsements of
the Convention plan from leading Irish
Americans, which are to be made pub
lie simultaneously with the publica-
ton of the official findings. One &C.
count of the matter states:
ut is also pretty certain that one
of the chief, if not the only cause of
delay is the necessity of waiting for
the arrival in London of a number of
endorsements secured from prominent
men in America who did not know at
the time they gave them the nature of
the settlement the Convention had
arrived at and which are to be pub
lished in the British and Irish press
simultaneously with, or Immediately
after the publication of the official re-
port.
Such endorsements, written or spok-
Ell without knowledge of the recon-
mendations of the Convention would
be of no. value whatever, no matter
what the position or character of the
individuals who gave them, but their
publication as the views of the lead
ing Irishmen in America would be en-
tirely consistent with British policy.
That policy is to ignore, or treat with
contempt, the opinions and wishes of
the majority of the Irish people and
to tell the world that men who do not
represent them have really authority
to speak and act in their name''
nulnAen lnIeuAsen