New-York tribune., 1918-04-28

view here to-day. Unusual interest was
attached to Mr.. O'Connor's words, as
he spoke after conference with Lord
Reading.
Mr.. O'Connor was asked if he took
pessimistc view of the present situa-
tion in England and Ireland over CON
Scription He answered:
81 am divided between hope and fear.
England has the most golden oppor-
tunity ever given in her history not
only for settling the Irish question, but
for giving an incalculable strength to
her empire and striking the biggest
blow for the success of the Allies in
ica
How could she attain these results?
BY giving Ireland Immediately an Irish
government and an Irish parliament,
and in a large and generous spirit. II
MI. Lloyd George has the courage and
the vision with which l credit him he
cught to see that this means. first.
friendly Ireland; second, a reccnciled
Irish race; third. renewal of that on
thusiasrl FOR the cause of the Allies
which existed in Ireland during the
first year cf the war, and, last, the men
to back up that enthusiasm with SOL
dlers as brave as the Irish have always
been.
Has Denounced Blunders
"Nobodv knows better than Lloyd
George the series Of tragic blunders
by which that state of feeling in Ire
land was destroyed, for nobody has
denounced them more eloquently or
more frankly
"Will Lloyd George adopt this pol
icy?'
"He certainly wants to, believe"
can do so if ne will only tell the
British Parliament-the House Of
Lords even more emphatically than the
House of Comm ons- that ne will stand
or fall by immediate self government
in Ireland
81 do not know an Englishman out
side the small and impotent knot of
Bourbon Tories who does not recog-
nize that, in the interests of England
and of the war, Ireland ought to get
her freedom at cnce. Orange Ulster
if small minority of the Irish peo-
pie be entitled any longer to stand
not only between Ireland and her lib
erty, but between England and her
security, and. above all, between the
Allies and victory? If the Irish
Orargemen have any grounds-I do not
believe they ever had any-for appre-
| tensions Of any attacks on their re-
ligious liberty or their business inter-
concessions, the enormous concessions.
given to them by the convention re-
port"
Saws Draft Is SMadness''
"What about conscription ?"
"You mean by the British Parlia-
ment ~ asked MIR. O'Connor, and, an
swering his own question, he contin-
ued: "Sheer midsummer madness, or
shall l put it more mildly by saying
the choice of the palpably wrong
method instead of the palpably right.
Conscription by the British Parlia-
ment, in my opinion, is dead. not
shed, or would require the diversion
from the hard-pressed front OF a lafEe
body of troops, but because it staffde
in face of a determined people, united
as they never were before.
"This Irish combination against con-
scription is inspired by three of the
most powerful impulses of the Irish
heart by the determination to be free,
by national conviction and by religious
! lSIVOI. N>du any IIee pOIH AIletICdtl
really censure the Irish people for de-
manding that before they fight for the
freedom of others they should be given
their own? Can any free born Ameri-
can think it juster or even more prac-
tical that nation should be conscript-
ed by another nation rather than by
itself?
"You can't shoot down, you can't i'm
prison a nation, especially in the mid
die of war. This is nationwide
movement. Therefore I say that con-
scription by the British Parliament is
dead.
"Give Ireland her liberty; trust to
her generosity, trust to her courage,
trust to hor good sense; proceed as in
Canada, as in Australia, as in South
Africa. l am almost dazzled by the
vision of all this means to England,
means to America, means toward the
successful prosecution of the war and
to events after the war.
"The Irish race all over the world
closing the old book of wrong and hate,
opening new chapter of good will,
contributing her due share to the fight