The Irish standard., 1918-12-07
Appeal to Pres.
Wilson from ireland
States IreIand's Claim to Self.
Discrimination Sent
by John Dillon and r. p.
O'Connor.

by John Dillon and r. p.
O'connor.
The text of the Irish Party's mani
festo to President Wilson was issued
for publication, and is an appeal on
behalf Of Ireland's claim to "the keep.
or of the conscience and the guide of
all the plain men Of the world" and
''the ruler of more millions Of the men
Of our blood than any other ruler on
earth"
It is signed by Mr.. Dillon and T. P.
O'Connor, and tells of the recent mo-
,tion in Parliament, saying the Irish
Party felt justified in making the de-
mand they did in the Presidents
name and in the name of the prin-
ciples for which he and his country
stand. They recapitulate passages
from his war utterances as enforcing
that demand, including one of the
IA Articles, and ask: "Can anybody
doubt that in making these eloquent
defenses of the rights of small ma.
lions to self-determination; of the
equality of these rights of small ma
lions with those of large nations; in
the demand that no people shall be
governed by the superior force of a
great nation, however small the one
or great the other; in the demand
that no nation, however strong, shall
have the right to wrong another ma
tion, however weak; in the demand
that there shall be a common stand
ard Of right and privilege for all ma
tions and peoples; that the strong
shall not do as they will, and that
the weak shall not suffer without re-
dress. Can anybody doubt that the
nation Of Ireland comes under the
category of those small nations for
whose rights you so eloquently plead,
or that the present government of
Ireland by Great Britain against the
will of Ireland, and simply by ar
bitrary and irresponsible force, comes
under the scathing condemnation you
have given to all such exercises of
wrong"
Presidents Dictun.
The manifesto then quotes the
passage in the Presidents September
speech, in which he asked an answer
to the statement he made on the war
issues as they appeared in "the coun-
sells of plain men," and says: "You
note that the demand for statement
of their real attitude on the issues of
this war has remained unanswered by
the British Administration. For more
than two months it remained unan-
swered. The answer was given on the
night of our motion. Summed up, it
was that the government of Ireland
should be continued on the lines of re-
preston, militarism, and all the other
doctrines Of that hideous reign of jun
kerism in Germany which the armies
of free nations have at last brought
to the earth.
''The answer further was, that the
liberty of Ireland should be postponed
until small minority of her people
gave their consent to the liberation
of the majority principle that would
destroy your efforts and those of the
associated Powers in giving liberation
to the Czecho-Slovaks, to the Jugo.
Slavs, to Poland, to Alsace-Lorraine,
and to every other of the oppressed
nationalities to which you and your
country have so largely contributed to
make free.
British Reputation.
Further in language of wanton and
studied insolence the spokesman of
the present British Administration
have repudiated the right of you or of
any other of the associated govern
ments to offer counsel or even sugges-
ton on the settlement of the future
Of Ireland, but we submit that this
war aimed at something more-as
you yourself put it-than a game of
power. This is language in the terms
of territorial arrangements and discus
sions of power and not, to quote from
your speech in New York, in the
terms of broad visioned justice and
mercy and peace, and the satisfaction
of those deep-seated longings of op-
: pressed and distracted men and wom-
en- and enslaved peoples that seem to
them the only things worth fighting,
war that engulfs the world It is
not the answer you asked; not the an
swer that represents the views and
hopes of all the true democratic
thought Of the English people.
eve claim that this war must be
looked at from your own standard of
broad visioned justice'-for the crea-
tion of new world of freedom eyery-