The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1918-05-04
censeiption Is . ~
~ 'a.. ~ PaIpabIy Wrong
r. p. o'coNNoR CALLS THE BRIT.
~: lSH ATTEMPT IN IRELAND
'A+a 3 SHEER MADNESS. 5,-;{ ~

T. p. o'coNNoR CALLS THE BRIT.
I lsH ATTEMPT IN IRELAND F,
i ' SHEER MADNESS. 3,;f
In the Interests of the War Ireland
Should Get Her Freedom at Once
Would Renew the Enthusiasm Of the
First Year Of War for Allies. '''''-
Washington, April 27.-Conscription
of the Irish by the British parliament
is dead, T. P. O'Connor, Irish Nation
alist leader, declared in an interview
here today, after a conference at the
British embassy with Lord Reading.
Mr. O'Connor was asked if he took
pessimistic view of the present sit
uation in England and Ireland over
CONSUMPTION. s,l45..,,.f. ~. ~
81 am divided between hope and
fear" he answered. England has the
most golden opportunity ever given
her, not only for settling the Irish
question, but for giving incalculable
strength to her empire and striking
the biggest blow for the success of the
Allies since the intervention of Amer
lea. ~ .,.'ti.t4 ~ ~. 0s.},.
Would Renew Irish Help
How could she attain these re-
suits? By giving Ireland Immediately
an Irish government and an Irish par
lament, in a large and generous spirit.
If David Lloyd George has the courage
and the vision with which credit him,
he ought to see that this means, first,
friendly Ireland; second, a recon-
ciled Irish race; third, a renewal of
the enthusiasm for the cause of the
Allies which existed in Ireland during
the first year of the war, and last, the
men to back up that enthusiasm with
soldiers as brave as the Irish have
always been.
Nobody knows better than Lloyd
George the series of tragic blunders by
which the state of feeling in Ireland
was destroyed, for nobody has de-
nounced them more eloquently or more
frankly You remember his historic
phrase as to inaptitudes and maligni-
ties of the war office toward Ireland"
will Mr.. Lloyd George adopt this
policy?" Mr.. O'Conner was asked.
Lloyd George Would Change.
He certainly wants to, believe"
replied Mr.. O'Connor, "and he certainly
can do so if he will only tell the Brit
ish parliament-the house of lords
even more emphatically than the house
of commons-that he will stand or fall
by immediate self-government in Ire
land"
"Has not Lloyd George obstacles, in
his way?"
Certainly, but no obstacles, in my
opinion, that he ought not to face and
that he cannot overcome. I do not
know an Englishman outside the small
and impotent knot of bourbon tories
who does not recognize that, in the in
terests of England and the war, Ire
land ought to get her freedom at once.
Orange Ulster still stands in the way,
but ask if small minority of the
Irish people be entitled any longer to
stand not only between Ireland and
her liberty, but between England and
her security; and, above all, between
the Allies and victory.
CONSUMPTION Madness.
IF the Irish Orangemen have any
grounds do not believe that they
ever had any-for apprehension of any
attacks on their religious liberty or
their business interests, these have
been fully met by the enormous con-
cessions given to them by the conven-
ton report"
What about conscription?" Mr..
O'Connor was asked.
"You mean by the British parlia-
ment?" asked Mr.. O'Connor. "Sheer
midsummer madness, or shall put it
more mildly by saying the choice of
the palpably wrong method instead of
the palRably right? Consumption by
the British parliament, in my opinion,
is dead, not merely because it might
lead to bloodshed or would require the
diversion from the hard pressed front
of large body of troops, but because
it stands in the face of a determined
people, united as they never were be-
FORE"