Great Britain

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 9, 11 May 1915, Page 6

Great Britain

"IRELAND IS DOING ITS DUTY." MR JOHN REDMOND ON THE RECORD. In the course of a recruiting speech in the l;T ee Trade Hall, Manchester, Mi 1 John Redmond said that every Irish soldier who gave bis life on the battlefields of Flanders died for Ireland as truly as did any of the heroes of the race in the past, tip to last month nearly 100,000 Irishmen from Ireland were with the Army, and, taking Great Britain and the colonies, the Irish race had at least a quarter of a million sops with the colors, "1 make no claim for Ireland, except that Ireland is doing its duty,” added j)lr ißedniond. Our record is one of which we can be proud, if we turn for a moment to the record of performances at the front 1 think we Irishmen can bold up onr heads. “Sir John French is an Irishman; he springs from good old Irish stock. "Admiral Beatty is an Irishman, from the County Wexford. “Admiral Carden, who,is bombarding the' Dardanelles, is an Irishman from Tipperary. “The lieutenant-commander of the destroyer that sank the Ul2 the other day is a Creagh, from County Clare. “And if we leave the high in rank and go down to the rank and file 1 think the name of Michael Leary will lie for ever associated with the history of this war. “If you look at the,performances at the front from another point of view, and look at the casualty lists, and see how whole regiments of Irish troops have been almost wiped out, I do not think any man will be found in this country to deny that Ireland is doing its duty.”