Evening star., 1918-08-12
WILING TO SHARE
EQUAL SACRIFICE
Prominent Irishmen Condemn
Anti conscriptionists' Ad-
dress to President Wilson.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LONDON, August 11.-An address to
President Wilson,. intended as a reply
to the message sent him by the Dub
lin Mansion House anti-conscription
conference early in July. has been
presented to the American embassy
The address is signed by Sir Edward
Carson. head of the war aims commit
tee and leader Of the Irish unionist
party; the lord mayor of Belfast. the
president OF the Belfast Chamber Of
Commerce and the heads Of various
Ulster organizations.
"At a time when all the free democ-
racies of the world have accepted the
burden of conscription as the only al
tentative to the destruction of free
institutions and International JUS
tfce." the address says. 'ft is easily
intelligible that those who maintain
ireiand's right to solitary and privi-
leged exemption from the same obli-
cation should betray their conscious
ness that an apology Is required to
enaple them to escape condemnation
at the bar Of civilized. and especially
American opinion"
Not the Unanimous Opinion.
The address goes on to say It is i'm
portant that the President and the
American people be assured that the
document is very far from represent
ing the unanimous opinion of Irish
men. The minority in Ireland, COM
pristng from one-fourth to one-thfrd
OF the population, it declares. dissents
emphatically from the views of John
Dillon, chairman Of the nationalist
party, and his associates, and has a
Keen sense of shame that their coun-
try has not submitted to equality of
sacrfnce. 1t says that almost every
assertion of the Dublin message was
distortion or Misrepresentation of
historical facts.
Devoted to Democratic Freedom.
Ulstermen forming the chief in
dustrial community. are as devoted
to democratic freedom as their fore
fathers, who supported the Ameri-
can war for independence, the state
ment continues. and it argues that
the experience Of a century has con-
WINGED them that the Irish people
could not enjoy more complete lib
erty than under the present union
with Great Britain. 1t denies that
Ireland's political status is any paral-
lei of small nations oppressed by
alien rule, and says home rule would
have been settled in 1916 il the ma
tfonalists had not opposed self-de-
termination for Ulster
Most OF the active opponents of
conscription are men who twice were
detected during the war in treason
able traffic with the enemy" the mes
sage declared. Their most powerful
support has been the ecclssiastics
who have not scrupled to employ the
weapons of spiritual terrorism, which
elsewhere in the civilized world have
middle ages"
The message ends with an express
sion of regret that the nationalists re-
fuse to lay aside domestic disputes to
put forth the whole strength Of the
country against Germany.
Text Of Document Made Public.
A dispatch from Dublin under date
Of July 3, said that the Mansion
House anti-conscrition conference had
given out the text of its message
sent to President Wilson through Am
bassador Page in London. The docu-
ment recounted many grievances of
the conferees concerning alleged
1t asked sympathetic Judgment from
the United States at a time when
Great Britain. they declared. threat
ened to crush the Irish people unless
they consented to a blood tax against
the protests Of their representatives.
The document emphasized that up un-
til the year 1900 the privilege of free