Republican farmer., 1919-04-25
leOMPL LETE TEXT OF IRISH OFFICERS
 MANIFESTO ADDRESSED TO KING

acted for her. unless she assents to
 the permanent amputation of a DOT
 ton of a province which contains a.
 substantial proportion of her most
 patriotic citizens and which historic
 ally, geographically, raCialIy, Consti-
 tutionalIy, economically, and admin
 istrarively Is. and always has been, an
 integral portion of her island terri
 tory, and n essential factor in her
 composite nationality. If the dissen- tient minority be temporarily estrang-
 ed from the majority, that is largely
 the result of an external intrigue which has sought to foster and in flame that arrangement in order to
 fashion for itself a weapon against
 the kindred causes of liberty for Ire
 land and democratic progress in
 Great Britain.
 In our opinion Ireland as a nation
 has been robbed of her treaty rights, and the Irish people, as a race, re- duced to the position of helots by the
 withholding of that which. in virtue
 of their citizenship, they had won by constitutional action. Of those for whom we speak, the survivors feel that their reliance on Che Home Ruls | compact was ill-founded, and that | lives in that reliance have made a sacrifice f-uitless, up to the present of benefit for the FatherIand that | they loved.
 That there has been a violent emo- | tional upheaval in Ireland, with po- litical reactions, is a result that could , have been foretoId with mathematical precision; and if is our knowledge of l the widely-organized efforts to brand i Ireland with the stigma of these con- sequences, as well as of the true con- , ditions at present existing in Ireland, which leads Us to present this, our
 petition, to Your Majesty in so much
 detail
 We appeal to Your Majesty under i these c&rcumsta nces of unprecedented i difficulty for a sympathetic considera- tion of the cause of your Irish sub jects. We submit that under present
 conditions it is in accordance neither
 with eEpediency nor natural justice
 that the issue between the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great I Britain should be finally determined by Your Majesty's Ministers, who | represent the preponderant British majority in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. We believe that the scales of justice would be held
 more evenly by that tribunal which has been charged with the full as sent of Your Majesty's government, with the task of applying, in ipterna- tional affairs, the principles for | which Your Majestys armed forces, in cooperation with your Allies and the United States of America, have recently achieved signal victory.
 
 1 jesty's sovereignty have already been referred for decision to that tribunal by Your Majesty's self governing dominions beyond the seas have been accorded separate representation for the protection of their distinctly na- tional interests.
 We respectfully pray. therefore,
 that IreIand's claims may be referred to the Peace Congress, of which the President of the French Republic in his opening address. described the ob- 1ects as nothing by justice, justice l that has no fayorites, justice in terri ] torial problems, justice in financial 1 problems, justice in economic pro- l blems," and whose task Ito remake the map of the world. in the name i of the peoples" on condition that it
 shall faithfully interpret their i thoughts and respect the right of na- | tions, small and great, to dispose of | themselves and reconcile it with the right, equally sacred. of ethnicaI and religious minorities."
 1 We pray Your Majesty that the l long agony of Ireland may thus be at length assuaged, and that her future may be moulded by the application of those great principles which we, as i Ireland's devoted sons and humble
 representatives, and as portion of | Your Majesty's armed forces, have l aided in enthrOning upon the judg- 1 ment seat of human civilization