The Irish standard., 1919-05-03

THE IRISH
to us with admiration and approval
Of the continuous struggle Of the Irish
people. ".You have fought long and
well in Ireland" said Kautsky; and
Bernstein spoke in similar strain.
"You are splendid fighting people"
said Adler. ''and you will keep 1t up
until you succeed; good luck to you"
81 have followed your position, par
ticularly during the war;" said Troels-
ira Immediately after our declaration.
"and I'm glad to see you here. l have
written much about Ireland In my
he added, 'and want to get
as much Information from you as !
can get" It was the same with many
other delegates including the Jews
and Greeks, who were particularly
cordial. Longuet, l need not say. ex-
pressed his pleasure at our attendance,
and I must say that whatever our diff
ferences, justice and truth compel me
to say that from Henderson, MacDon-
aid, Middleton, Mrs. Snowden, and Miss
Bondfeld we had nothing less than
good comradeship. Huysmans, as al
ways, was one of our best friends,
helping us in many ways which mere
fellowship would not dictate. From
first to last we had the ear and the
goodwill of the delegates, and we
were not the least favored by the staff
of the Bureau, an important consid-
Grafton, as delegates to any confer
ence or congress well know. We were
especially indebted to Grumbach's
brother-in-law, Greudel, who took us in
hand as soon as we entered the Volks-
haus on Friday morning, and went
out Of his way to get our statements
in the hands Of the delegates even
before we formally took our place in
the Conference, and to Mile. Richer,
who proved herself an invaluable
friend to our cause both during and
AFTER the conference. fG3
Nor was Ireland forgotten in the
Commission by its most important
member, its Chairman and reporter,
Mistral (France). In his report to the
Conference, Mistral included the dec
laration Of Irish independence amongst
other evidences, such as the second
Balkan war, that the pre-war situation
was unsatisfactory in many respects,
which would have to be changed. 4
On the Commission.
Ireland scored again on Sunday
when Tom johnson, with the speech
printed in another column, interviewed
effectively and successfully for the
representation of the subject and small
nations on the Permanent Commission
charged to carry on the work of the
Conference until the International is
called together again, and to draw up
the new statutes. Johnson began in
his usual quiet and judicial manner
but he soon warmed up until he glow
ed as I have never seen him fired on
any platform in Ireland. AS will be
seen from his speech, he got in some
very telling points, and he certainly
turned the tide in favor iof equal rep
resentation for all the delegations on
the Permanent Commissions. So, in
the absence of our colleagues on the
Irish delegation, we duly nominated
ourselves as the two Irish represents
tives on the Commission! We attend
ed its first meeting, and await the call
to the second, when we shall have
another and even better opportunity
of doing good.
In Like Bondage.
Our speeches brought to our notice
and to our help representatives Of two
countries which were not represented
on the Conference, but for which we
have naturally a more than platonic
feeling, India and Egypt Thus we
were able to make, SO to speak, triple
alliance of subject peoples under Brit.
ish rule, and when India and Egypt
commissioned us to speak authorita,
lively for them. we felt our hands
strengthened, and realized the i'm.
poftance Of this united front Here
let me pay my tribute to the two
Egyptian leaders, Ally Shamsy, mem.
Der Of the Opposition in the Egyptian