Ireland is a loyal country, [cheers,] and she
would, I know, respond with alacrity to any summons which called upon
her to take her share in the assertion and the defense of our common
interests. But, gentlemen, the issues raised by this war are of such a
kind that, unless I mistake her people and misrepresent her history,
they touch a vibrating chord both in her imagination and in her
conscience. How can you Irishmen be deaf to the cry of the smaller
nationalities to help them in their struggle for freedom [cheers]
whether, as in the case of Belgium, in maintaining what she has won, or
as in the case of Poland or the Balkan States in regaining what they
have lost or in acquiring and putting upon a stable foundation what has
never been fully theirs?
The Appeal to Ireland.
How again can you Irishmen--if I understand you--sit by in cool
detachment and with folded arms while we, in company of our gallant
allies of France and Russia, are opposing a worldwide resistance to
pretensions which threaten to paralyze and sterilize all progress and
the best destinies of mankind? [Cheers.] During the last few weeks Sir
John French and his heroic forces have worthily sustained our cause. The
casualties have been heavy.
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