The Irish standard., 1919-11-01

BON that to pass by, or il you refuse
to act upon it. Therefore in this op
portunity for acting is involved not
merely the liberty of Ireland, but there
is involved in it the liberty of peoples
everywhere.
| We are not the only nation in sub,
lection There are other nations in
subsection. And as long as these ma
tions are in subsection there will not
! be peace. 1t is not mere assertion
without foundation to say that if the
Irish question is not settled there will
be no peace in the world. There will
be no peace in the world not merely
because the Irish will do, themselves,
their best to upset it, but because a
principle will have been violated, a
principle which is necessary for the
establishment of peace. Unless nations
are allowed to determine for them
selves the form of government they
want, these nations will seek-and it
is not merely Ireland but the millions
in India and the millions in Egypt and
the millions in Corea and in Shantung
all these millions will try, every one
| of them, their utmost to destroy the
peace which is peace Of slavery for
them. (Applause0
Now it becomes, therefore. neces-
| sary for the peace of the world to ac-
| cept that principle, and now is the
time, and you have the opportunity to
| accept it, and you are strong enough,
l say-and that is the vital part Of the
argument-you are strong enough to
have your way if you want it.
Now the first part of our mission is
the recognition of the republic, and
think | have said quite enough about
that.
There is second part of our mis-
sion which is that at this time: If you
do not do us a positive act Of justice,
you will at least not do us positive
act of injustice.
There is a league of nations pro,
posed, proposed for ratification at the
present time. That league of nations
Twill bind the American people to pre-
serve, among other things-to pre-
serve the territorial integrity of the
British empire against external ag-
gression. That is Article X. Article X
lmeans that you are going to preserve
the present conditions all over the
world, the present boundaries of the
states and the goods and possessions
they hold, whether they hold them
| Justly or not; that you arc going to
perpetuate these conditions, and that
you are going to guarantee to them in
lperpetuity those goods which they
hold, even though you admit that many
of them hold these goods uniustly.
| You may ask. "How does that par
Iticularly affect lreland?' You may
say, why. Article \ OF the League OF
Nations that you are talking about
does not prevent the Irish people from
|rebelling." Well. we know that. Arti
Gle X does not prevent the Irish people
from rebelling All the covenants you
could sign would not prevent the
Irish people from rebelling. (Great
Applause and cheers.)
But it is not the satisfaction Of be
ing able to rebel we want. What VIC
want is success in our rebellion. and
you are going to do your utmost to re
move that obstacle.
Study history Find what have been
the successful rebellions. Find where
it has been that nations held in slavery
lby more powerful nations, ever
achieved their freedom, and you will
find it is the coordination of all fac
tors, one struggling from within, the
other aid from without. And don't
know myself at the moment cannot
recall a single example in the whole
of history where a nation has ever sue
ceeded in winning it's own freedom by
its own efforts from within.
! Take some cases that will occur to
you at once. Ask yourselves-Mr. Bo
land mentioned them already-ask
yourselves how the southern republics
here won their independence from
Spain. Your aid was a very material
factor to them. Let us take the par
ticular case of Cuba. You know per
fectly we'll that if the Cubans are a
free nation today, it has been, to a
large extent due not to their own ef
forts from within, but to the fact that
you co-operated with those efforts and
that you gave them assistance from
without.
Take the cases of the Central En-
pire-the small nations that have come
out in freedom from the Central En-
pire. How have they won their free
dom? Not merely by their efforts from
within, but by the fact that those who
held them in slavery were attacked
I from without nv the cO-ODeratiOn OF