New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-12
The Ambassador from Ireland

, who have died fighting, for thu r.
of justice and liberty which the Ala a',
sent, and in which England has ma. rem
making, such magnificent sacri6css "a
wish TO do is rather to spportiou "a va
ment in Ireland its rightful sbar. go
very real glory. u
The available figures Of Irishr..
in the English army come down ori. SEN,
middle of last October, but it /, y Z
sumption that the proportiona,s ,.s al
tons OF the different districts s.S
greatly changed. Up TO that date. ,bsr'
Der 10, 19l6-two years and thres We We.
after the outbreak of the war-,b. "Vas|
OF Irishmen who had joined the Bri,,'.
was 1924. OF these men 1854 c,nss
Ulster; 2l,fl2 came from the city Of D,SS
which has large Unionst populate, y
a fair assumption that many Of A,,
Unionists; the 1900 who came fro, ,.
College, Dublin, were without oues,io,
whelmingly so. The rest of Leip,,,.
Munster and Connaught, contributed i5,u
But the case is even stronger W..
| O'Connor landed here he was asked ,b,-.S
strength of the Unionist party in lnI,.
He IS reported rs answering: "A lara, =
iorty in two counties, small naio..I
two more counties" Il would have MAJ
, statement moro exact If he had sds.S =
able and intelligent minority in the n,.
ing twenty-eight counties" but the s,,,..r
would. of course, have lost somethiu, !,
emotional appeal. But, for the mon,,,
that pass. Taking Mr.. O'ConnOrs s,a,,,.
as our basis, it appears that Of the lss
Irishmen who up to mid-0ctober l,s -
had gone to fight Germany 5O,5Ol can, Z.
the two counties in which the Uniorjc, !,
in strong majority; from Connsugh, n.
/ is strongly Nationalist, there went 5.,., -
Chivalry to Ulster
Let US look at the same figures in ur..
way: The proportion Of men who have io,.
the army, contrasted with the number, s,n
able for military service" as being Of :
/ tary age, physically fit and not cona..,
/ indispensable at home-the class Who /,
/ perhaps a little harshly, called "sla,sr
/ In profoundly Nationalist Connaush,
| last bear TO those who have gone to III.
ratio of 376 to 100; in Munster and Le,e,
/ excluding Dublin city, the ratio IS a,
/ 200 to 100; in Dublin city the ratio h
/ TO 100; for the whole Of Ulster Il 4 |
/ 20 100; for strongly Unionist Belfast Il 4
/ to 100 Take the two extremes Of the SCI
| Connaught with 376, Belfast with %. Ar,
/ able but not fighting" This is not real,
crushing argument for Home Rule M
not one say, on the contrary that ,hen
something questionable in the propoa
settle the Irish question now in a ssna
/ favorable 20 the Unionists Of Ulster W
such an overwhelming proportion oi
available manhood is absent at the from.
a sense favorable TO Nationalist Conu.t
where such an overwhelming proportiG |
/ her available manhood is still sitting By
freside? This is not quite the chu.s
proposal one might expect from "idesllsar
dreamers."
So much for the first Of Mr. 0'COmT
three events. We come now to the a,
and third, the order of which he repeats
reverses, as though what he calls Eng
! folly" were the cause, while II was really
effect of the Irish folly" This last ';
he euphemistically calls "a dream" irt.,
treason and murder; it included bag
with Germany, long after the srwi
in Belgium, long after the Lustani "a
sacre. Many Irishmen think no foulSsri|
could be fixed on ireland than that ssaa,.
alliance with the powers Of evil. L@aE''
pose an analogy: that a group OF oG frs
should rebel and take up arms for GsT-i'
4 | think this country would treat c''
more severely than England treated it,f
traitors. many of whom arc now at i'.,
+ One remembers Ambassador Gerardi ,
/ Oo0 lampposts." The trouble with the"
triot dreamers" is that they want X
/ like men and be forgiven like women
Let US by all means have reeoreAf
But we can only have it on honest n'-s
! fair statement OF both sides. ireland
say, needs justice; then set the exsni'
| justice. in thought, word and deed, ~H
England also.