The Dominion. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1915. IRELAND AND THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2631, 29 November 1915, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1915. IRELAND AND THE WAR

A certain amount of prominence has been given of late to the part Ireland is playing in the war. An unpleasant impression was created recently by the reported' exodus of young Irishmen to America, which it will bo recalled was stopped by the refusal of the steamship companies to carry passengers of fighting age. There nave been also wild utterances at times by irresponsible people which have encouraged the belief held by our enemies that the Irish people as a people would not fight on the side of the British Empire. It is now well known that at the outset of the war the Germans were labouring under the delusion that the people of Ireland (as well as the-people of the Oversea Dominions) would gladly seize on the opportunity to cast off their allegiance to _ Britain. Irish/ soldiers taken prisoner were invited to join tho ranks of 'the Kaiser's forces, and Gorman agents in America have been busy amongst the Irish-American population, seeking, through their agency, to promote disaffection in Ireland, to discourage recruiting, and to embarrass the British Government. These efforts of Teutonic intrigue have been on the whole unsuccessful. Here and there, by cleverly playing on the feelings of Irishmen as to the wrongs of Ireland, fancied and real, the emissaries of Kaiserdom and the enemies of Britain _ have managed to do a little mischief, but the Irish people, as a nation, have not succumbed to these wiles and devices. Many thousands of-Jrislimen have enlisted, and in France and elsewhere have displayed that splendid fighting sp'irit which has made the Irish soldier famous in war from the ear Rest

times. Complaint has been made that recruiting has not been so brisk in Ireland in proportion to population as in England and Scotlaud, and the position has been defended on various grounds. The point of _ interest at the moment, however, is the prominence, that is being given to the unity of action respecting tho war of those bitter antagonists on the subject of Home Rule, the Catholic Nationalists and the Ulster Protestants, which may be tilken as a very fair indication of ftow Ireland feels in regard to the war. ]Ve are told to-day that an All-Irish Division, composed of Irishmen of these conflicting national views, has completed its training, and is ready for the front. Internal differences of such transcendent importance as those which threatened so recently to plunge Ireland into the horrors of civil war are laid aside in this time of peril from an outside enemy, and Ulstermen and Nationalists are found fraternising in the one camp ready to lay down their lives for a common cause. It is, indeed, an inspiring evidence of the unity of tho British Empire when suoh a reconciliation can bo biought about in so convincing a way, and it is another happv augury for a closer and better understanding in tho days of peace which are to. come- Mit. John Redmond, Loader of the Nationalist Party, who has been an active rccruitirig agent in recent times, seized tho opportunity of tho completion of the training of the All-Irish Division to once more declare the loyalty of Ireland to the cause of Britain in the present, great struggle. "For the first time in history," he declared, "Ireland is eager to fulfil her duty to the Empire, and though many may not be prepared to admit the inference which may be drawn from his fliic«c'dine remark, that i 8) tljp.t tho .British Empjro onoe stood for the,

oppression of Ireland; all will welcome his stirring declaration of the whole-hearted loyalty of "the Green Isle.'' To Irishmen throughout the British Dominions the tidings that their fellow-countrymen have sunk their differences in so marked a manner in order to serve the greater cause of Empire must necessarily bo a source of _ deep gratification. No one unacquainted with the intensity of feeling which has prevailed in Ireland on the Home Rule question can quite appreciate what the fusion now disclosed means. It is a step fraught with great possibilities, not only in the addition it may mean of splendid fighting men to the armies of Britain, but in its beajing ofi the future pcace and contentment of the people of Ireland.