Republican farmer., 1919-04-25

n officers, has been addressed to the Prime Minister for presentation to the King:
 A To.the Kings Most Excellent Majesty.
 From Certain Irishmen Recently
 Serving in lis Majesty's Forces i. Against the Central Empires: May it please Your Ma ajesty-We, the undersigned, being Irishmen who i. have served in Your Majesty's forces against the Central Empires, desire to emphasize the record of the Irish peo- z pie in the great war, and to solicit most respectfully Your Majesty's as sistance in preferring Ireland's claim that in virtue of her efforts and sac riaces in the battlefield, as well as the intrinsic merits of her cause, she is entitled to benefit from the victor ious assertion of those great princi- pies which she has given of her life !, blood to maintain.
 We claim to represent a very large majority of the fighters of Irish birth and Irish blood in the Allied forces. There are circumstances which pre- clude the possibility of organizing an artiCulate expression of our com rades' aspirations upon a numerically | representative basis but there can be no challenge to the assurance, which we tender to you, that our voices are typicalIy representative of the multi tude for whom, in their enforced si- lenCe, we feel ourselves bound in honor to speak.
 Among Your Majestys forces dur ing the war there have served ap- proximately 100000 men of Irish birth and blood, raised in Ireland by purely voluntary enlistment. At least an1ll r,ar ,F T,-5GI vi Or blood was furnished in England, Scot land and Wales predominately by voluntary enlistment. In Australia and South Africa by purely voluntary enlistment, and in Canada and New Zealand predominately by voluntary enlistment, very large numbers of men of Irish birth or blood were rais- ed. Among the forces Of the United States of America, associated with the Allies in the war there were also very large numbers of men of Irish birth or blood The rolls of the dead and wounded are the best testimony of the numbers of all of these and of their self-devotion to the Allied cause.
 Now, as always, Ireland takes her stand upon the rights of her nation hood. In former times the separate nationhood of Ireland, distinct from Great Britain. was recognized, in form and In fact, by the official desig- nation as the Kingdom of Ireland un- der the Grown of Your Majesty's pre- decessors. In 1782 the Irish ParIia- ment declared it's legislative inde- pendence of the British parliament and the British parliament expressed it's formal and official acquiescence. In the year 1900. however, by the en- actment of the Act of Union the Irish
 
 Kingdom of Ireland itself incorpor- ated with the Kingdom of Great Brit ain under the new title of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire land.
 The circumstances under which the Act of Union was enacted were such that Ireland has always challenged it as being devoid both of moral and legal sanction. The experience of HIS years shows it to have perpetual ed in Ireland q condition of political insurgency; and an examination of the concrete results establishes the fact that Ireland, as compared with the other constituent units of the United Kingdom. then for the first time formed, has fallen far behind in population, wealth, and national power. The vital forces of the Irish lLeAtIC4i LlGNE DGGl spent III tIAOI tS dL self-expTession and self-reaI Itzation, and it's material interests have been sometimes ignored, and sometimes overbOrne amid the rivalries of Brit ish party politics.
 The resultant protest Of Ireland has assumed from time to time the vary ing forms of orga anized political agi- tatton, armed rebellion. agrarian re- volt. and some slight manifestations of revolutionary terrorism.
 In the later stages responsible Irish statesmanship, under the tuteiaee of Parneu. gravitated toward constitu- tiona1 action, and, in view of the democratic evolution of British in etitutions and in reliance upon the pledges of Liberal statesmanship. in [ spired and expressed by Gladstone, committed Ireland definitely to the acceptance of settlement of her claim which should insure to her full scope for national growth and self expression among the society of the free peoples within the British Elm pire.
 On the eve of the outbreak of the war, after repeated considerations of the whole question, after the fashion ing of innumerabIe guarantees for the protection of the dissentient minority in Ireland, after the moderation of ! Irish statesmanshtp had assented to the pairing down of the legislative recognition of Irish nationality tc ninimal proportions, and after the ascertainment of the will of the ma jority of the voters of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire land, the Imperial Parliament finally sanctioned Home Rule for Ireland Immediately after the outbreak ot the war. the Home Rule Bill, by vir- tue of the Royal Assent became the formal sovereign legislative Act o1 the Three Estates of the Realm Thu. was a great pact of international ap- peasement ratified Thereupon, ant as the first fruits of her new rights and obligations, Ireland rallied to the cause of the British Empire of whicf she had become at least an enfran chised and self-respe pecting nationa unit By free gift of free people as the Prime Minister of England