MR. REDMOND IN LIMERICK

New Zealand Tablet, 18 February 1915, Page 13

MR. REDMOND IN LIMERICK

IMPOSING GATHERING OF VOLUNTEERS. IRELAND’S DUTY IN THE .WAR.

The largest review of National Volunteers yet held in Ireland took place on Sunday, December 20, at Limerick, when Mr. John Redmond, M.P., inspected a body of 14,000 well-equipped citizen soldiers, drawn from all parts of Munster (says the Irish Neivs). Such a muster as that witnessed in the historic city on the Shannon demonstrated that the strength of the Volunteer movement in the South is being well maintained, notwithstanding the fact that a high percentage of the men of military age there are now attached tto the regular forces, and despite the perverse influence, sought to be exercised by cranks and faddists in various parts of Ireland, against the development and spread of the organisation. That the sound common sense of the people, both in the agricultural and urban communities is solidly behind the policy of a well-administered, wellequipped, and well-manned Volunteer army, representative of the majority of the people of Ireland, was distinctively evidenced in the character, as well as the numbers, of the force which marched past the Irish Leader on Sunday, while the whole tone and temper of the monster public demonstration following on the review was a revelation of Irish sentiment existing on the issues involved in the present war. There could be no doubt about the intensity and earnestness with which the great gathering endorsed the views so finely and tellingly expressed by Mr. Redmond in a notable address.

Practically every corps of the National Volunteers in Munster was represented—a first-class performance in ‘ mobilisation ’ of itself, having regard to the great difficulties involved by the distances to* be covered from the more outlying portions of the province, whose divisional forces were consequently hampered in sending full complement on a Sunday morning. Considering the immense area to be covered, the assemblage of such a.

Large Body of Volunteers

was truly remarkable, especially as it was representative in the very widest sense. Waterford on the one side, and Kerry and Clare on the other sent their Volunteers to join the ranks with those from Cork, Limerick, and Tipperary in a truly inspiring parade of military efficiency. The review took place at the Greenpark Racecourse, which provided an excellent parade ground, special arrangements having been made there for the occasion, and the march past took place in front of the Grand Stand. Advantage was taken of the Irish Leader’s presence to present colors to the Limerick City Regimentprovided by the ladies of the Limerick Volunteers’ Association —and after this picturesque ceremony came the general demonstration. This was held on another portion of the racecourse, and was attended by scenes of enthusiasm such as even Limerick, with its long record of famous National gatherings, has seldom witnessed. The Trade Guilds of Limerick, in addition to political, social, and athletic organisations connected with the famous borough, united in making this a most impressive display, so far as the city itself was concerned, and when it is remembered that the public bodies of every county in the Southern Province were also joined in paying tribute to the Irish Leader, some idea of the extent and significance of the assemblage may be obtained. From a spectacular point of view, the display was highly effective, and the music provided by over one hundred fine bands was a splendidly-spirited accompaniment to the day’s memorable proceedings.

Addresses and Procession.

In the early part of the day, Mr. John Redmond was made the recipient of addresses of welcome, all of which expressed absolute loyalty to hi* leadership, from the public bodies and organisations represented. Sub-

sequently the Irish Leader left the city for Greenpark, accompanied by an imposing procession. Though the morning was very wintry and snow fell, the afternoon proved delightfully fine, and both the parade through the city and the muster on the racecourse were witnessed to the best advantage by a great assemblage of the general public, including many military officers. The gathering which thronged the grand stand at the racecourse included members of the local aristocracy, while public men from every part of Munster were to be seen. The Volunteers were in great proportion armed, and all were smartly uniformed, and detachments of well mounted men ‘ kept the route ’ and also rode in the procession. The operation of bringing the vast body into the required formations was carried out without a. hitch by mounted officers, and when subsequently Mr. Redmond and Colonel Moore, C. 8., accompanied by Captain the Hon. Fitzroy Hemphill, and a staff drawn from the officers of the Dublin National Volunteers, made an inspection of tho ranks, the men were drawn up with military precision. After the impressive ceremony of the blessing and the presentation of colors, the review concluded, and an immense meeting was held on the hill overlooking the course, where a splendid platform had been erected.

THE IRISH LEADER’S SPEECH

THE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF IRELAND.

Mr. John E. Redmond, on rising to speak, was received with enthusiastic and prolonged cheering. He .said, people of Munster, it is quite impossible for me to put into words the impression created upon my mind by this vast gathering to-day. Its vastness, its enthusiasm, its order and discipline, and its spirit of complete confidence are proof conclusive that the people of Munster fully realise the position of triumphant power in which the national cause of Ireland stands at this moment. They realise that the Union is dead. T hey realise that Ireland has at long last won a free constitution, a better and freer constitution than that which Grattan won for Ireland in 1782. They know further, none know better than the men of Munster, they know the machinery whereby that struggle has been brought to success, they know the men who made that machine, they know the men who worked that machine against all odds, against abuse and calumny, in fair weather and in foul, and who have brought the cause to victory. Therefore this great gathering means to me the unity of Munster. It means to me the confidence of Munster, it means to me the determination of the people of Munster to stand by the men who have brought their cause to victory. Fellow-country-men, we have won the victory, but do not let Ireland forget that we have still a period of anxiety before us through which we must preserve unbroken our unity as a party and our national organisation if we are to reap fully The Fruits of Victory.

An interval of several months must elapse before the new Irish Government and the new Irish Parliament come into being. My hope and my fervent prayer is that that interval will witness a softening of animosities, a gradual disappearance of class and sectarian hatreds, ■a growing sense of responsibility and of the spirit of citizenship which will fit us for the grave and glorious task which lies before us in the immediate future. Fel-low-countrymen, I beg to-day of the Irish people to take a really serious view of the position in which we stand. The old order has changed, the old era is ended, and to-day we are witnessing the re-birth of Ireland. We have been very apt in the past to attribute and, in the main, rightly to attribute to the carelessness, sometimes to the malice, oftener to the ignorance, of the English Government all the ills of Ireland—our poverty, our depopulation, our misery, our dissensions,

and even our religious discords. But let the Irish people realise this-— that excuse for Irish misery can exist no longer. From now on the British Government will not* be responsible. The responsibility will rest with ourselves. We have been fond of boasting through long generations that we were capable of self-government. Irishmen, the test has come. In heaven’s name, let the Irish Nation realise fully

The Gravity of the New Responsibility that has come home to them. This is not the time for personal or local dissensions. This is not the time for mere party bitterness or sectarian rancor or political selfishness. We stand at the most solemn moment in the whole history of our country; and I say here to-day that the interest of Ireland as a whole must over-ride every other consideration if, indeed, we are to behave as sane men worthy of freedom. The claim has recently been made that because the victory has been won the machinery and the organisation that won the victory should now be discarded. 1 say a greater piece of political insanity was never suggested. The discipline and the unity of the Irish Party, the discipline and the unity of the National Organisation—that is the United Irish League —were never as necessary as they will be in the interval between now and the assembling of the Irish Parliament, and if that interval is not to be turned into a period of dissension, confusion, and chaos, with every local and personal issue bitterly contested to the grave injury of Ireland—if this is not to happen, then the power of the National Organisation must be maintained. Attacks have recently been made upon the system of holding conventions for the selection of Nationalist candidates, so as to prevent purely personal and local issues interfering with the progress of the National cause. I say here to-day that no part of the National Organisation is so essential as this system of conventions. Of course if a constituency is not organised, if the representative men are so apathetic that they do not care to send delegates, if the clergy think it consistent with their duty not to attend the convention, then possibly the convention in such a case might be an unrepresentative one, but even then I say such a convention is better than none at all. The conventions, after all, remember, are a- purely democratic piece of organisation. What would be thought of me if to-morrow I abandoned conventions and I went back to the old system of the time before conventions were established, and if I took upon my shoulders as Leader of the Nationalist Party the responsibility which Parnell took upon his shoulders before he was able to establish conventions? What would be thought of me if under these circumstances I abandoned conventions and myself nominated candidates for the various constituencies? No, when our Parliament is in actual being the whole face of politics will be changed. The present parties will naturally and certainly disappear. The present organisation will cease to exist, having done its work, but until that day comes, I say that any attempt to undermine the authority of the National Organisation, either by flouting the National leaders or by discrediting the system of Conventions is an act of absolute political folly, and almost a treason to Ireland. Now, fellow-countrymen, 1 have to announce that in the course of the next few weeks special meetings will be held of every divisional executive of the United Irish League in Ireland in order to perfect its organisation for the coming year, and so as to make sure that in any conventions which may have to be held in the immediate future, these conventions will be fully representative of the people. I have further to declare that, so far from abandoning the system of conventions, we will stand by that system. We will support the decisions of the conventions, and we will support these decisions with the full strength of (he National Organisation and the National Party. Now, people of Munster, Mr. Redmond continued, every day that passes makes it clearer and more certain that the attitude adopted by your leaders

WITH REFERENCE TO THE WAR

is the attitude of the Irish nation. There are three reasons why that attitude is absolutely necessary. The

first is, that it is the only attitude consistent with the National honor of Ireland. I have been accused of propounding new policies and of making new declarations and departures. I have done nothing of the kind. I have made no new departures; I have announced no new policy. ; The* policy which I announced ;in the name of Ireland was the policy of O’Connell, it was the policy of Butt, it was the policy of Parnell. Each one of these men declared with the approval of Ireland, in Parliament and out of Parliament, that in the concession of Home Rule to this country Ireland was willing to close the old chapter of wrong and of hatred, and to make a treaty of peace with England. If these men were lying, then the whole Home Rule claim for a century past has been in itself a lie and a fraud, and the whole Irish nation would be proved to have been en gg e d i n a system of lying, trickery, and dishonor. I assert here to-day that since the great National Conference in the Rotunda under Butt in 1873 down to this very moment every Irish leader in this movement has declared over and over again what I declared in the House of Commons; and what I declare here to-day is the national policy of Ireland. What did Parnell say; If Home Rule,’ he said, ‘ be carried into law, the Irish people will cheerfully accept all the duties and responsibilities assigned to them and will justly value the position they have won in the Imperial system.’ And what, asked Mr. Redmond, was

My Particular Mandate

at the great convention held when the Home Rule Bill was introduced ? The following resolution was unanimously and enthusiastically passed—- ‘ That we welcome the Government of Ireland Bill as an honest and generous attempt to settle the long and disastrous quarrel between the British and Irish nations; that this National Convention of the Irish people decided to accept the Bill in the spirit in which it is offered ; and we hereby declare our solemn conviction that the passage of this Bill into law will bind the people of Ireland to the people of Great Britain by a. union infinitely closer than that which now exists, and by so doing will add immeasurably to the strength of the Empire.’ Well, that Home Rule Bill has passed into law. It is the Bill which we said we would accept as a treaty of peace; and if now, because England is supposed to be in danger, we had seized this moment to attempt to stab her in the back, and if now, when the test for men’s souls has come, we went back on our pledges and promises for the last century, then I say we would inflict a deadly blow upon the honor of Ireland in the eyes of the whole world, and I personally —l, the man who was specially and particularly charged and commissioned in the name of Ireland in the most solemn way to give that assurance and promise to Englandl, who, in pursuance of that campaign, did give that pledge on scores of occasions in the House of Commons and on hundreds of platforms throughout the country, with the consent and the approval of the whole National Party in Ireland— personally would not have remained one single hour in public life

If Ireland Had Adopted so Dishonorable an Attitude as suggested by some people to-day. My position is this, the Home Rule Bill, the Home Rule Act, the Home Rule settlement is not, to use the Kaiser’s words, ‘ a scrap of paper ’ to be torn up. This is a solemn treaty made between the people of Great Britain and the people of Ireland. 1 say that Ireland would cover herself with dishonor if, because danger looms on the horizon in England, she went back on her promise and her pledge. Now, the second reason I have to give is this, the merits of this war, our duty towards Belgium, our duty towards the other small nations of the world. Believe me the existence of the small nations of the world is at stake in this war. It is not a question of the fate of Belgium, or Servia, or of Poland only. If Germany wins this war it would mean the end inevitably of the independence of Holland, of Denmark, and of Switzerland, and probably of every small nation in Europe. I ask is there to-day an Irishman living on

the soil of Ireland who when reading of the destruction of the churches and cathedrals in • Belgium and in France, who on reading of the butchery of the peaceful villagers, in reading of the ruins of convents, and of the murders of priests and of- nunsis there an" Irishman who, when reading those things, is not proud of the fact that there are Irishmen at the front endeavoring to maintain right and justice and to punish these crimes. And I ask further; is there any, Irishman living whose cheek would not burn with shame if it could be truly said of his —lreland— lreland, the cradle of the fighting race—that it could be said of her that either from the base cowardice of her -sons or from the ridiculous pretext of race hatred of England, or any other cause, that Ireland as a nation remained peacefully at home and allowed other men, by the risk of their lives, to save her from the fate of Belgium ? I ask, further, is there a Catholic Irishman who would not blush with shame if it could be said that the only Irishmen who came to the succor of the friendly Catholic nation of Belgium were Orange Volunteers from Ulster? Happily, fellow-countrymen, there is no such danger. At tins moment Ireland has 150,000 men of Irish birth with the colors. The Irish Brigade which, I believe, is destined to rival the glory of the old Irish Brigade, is rapidly filling up, and when the war is over, when the small nations of Europe are vindicated, 1 when Belgium is revenged, when Prussian militarism is dead, then Ireland will be able to boast that in proportion- to her means and, I believe, more than in proportion to her means, she has borne manfully

Her Share in this Great Struggle, and has once again vindicated the valor of her sons. .Now, the third‘reason 1 give you is one on a lower plain altogether. it is summed up in the word ‘ Policy’ ; and i properly and designedly put that last. Still, it is a consideration to which no wise man can shut his eyes; and i put it to you that if, when the war is over, ic can be truthfully said that whereas the Volunteers from Ulster had clone their duty and borne their share, and in the South and W est of Ireland had refused, 1 ask you what do you think the effect of that would be when we come, as we must, I suppose some day soon to the consideration of the Amending Bill. Ido not press that argument too far, but it is right that I should point it out. I say as sensible men, as fair men, put yourselves for a moment in the position of Englishmen. I care not whether they be opponents of Home Rule oxfriends of Home Rule in the past, what, would you do if it was proved to you that Ireland had broken faith, that Ireland had refused to do her duty, and that the only men in Ireland who had done their duty were the Ulster Volunteers? You know very well what any ordinary man would do and say under those circumstances. He would say, ‘ I’ll stand by the men who stood by me.’ i say therefore to you that there arc three unanswerable grounds for the attitude that we have taken up, and that the Irish Nation has endorsed—first, the reason of honor, second the reason of justice, and third and last in importance, the reason of policy. Fellow-countrymen, you have done a good day’s work here to-day in Limerick, and your Volunteer display was to me amazing in its size and in its efficiency. People say, some enemies of ours say, that these Volunteers, while they will parade at home in safety, will not do their duty where there is risk. It is a lie. On the Ist November last—these are the Government figures supplied to me

16,442 Enrolled Members of the Irish Volunteers were with the colors. And, as you know, since then large numbers have joined. Now you know—every fair man knows that the proportion who can join is comparatively small to the whole body. What 1 would say to those who cannot join is, that they can do a good work here at home in preparing themselves to be, what I hope some day they will be, efficient for home defence. I cannot for the life of me understand why it is that the Government and the War Office are so chary about giving assistance and instruction and help to turn these Volunteers into an effective—so far as they have to remain at home—into an efficient home

defence, when I see them doing exactly what I suggest they should do here over in England, and when they must know the magnificent material that is here at their hands for the purpose. You have done a. good day’s work for Ireland by your presence here to-day. You have proved your fidelity to your solemn undertakings. You have proved your loyalty to your leaders, and I say to you, deep down in my heart, 1 believe that future generations in a free and prosperous Ireland will look back with pride and gratitude at the spontaneous loyalty, fidelity, and courage of the people of Munster. A resolution of confidence in Mr. Redmond was carried with acclamation, on the motion of Mr. W. R. Gubbins, chairman Limerick County Council, seconded by Mr. P. E. Burke, J.P. The Right Rev. Monsignor Ryan, Tipperary, and Alderman Joyce, M.P., having also spioken, the meeting concluded.