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Vol. 1. No. 20
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Soldiers First
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For good or ill Ireland has decided to As far .as the Volunteers are concerned I arm, and nothing will prevent the carrying in the r anks is four square to out of that decision. To arm for 'any pur. Naturally there are blabbers and Ilpose except for the defence of our own would-be leqders. in. the. ranks whose m. lberties would be fool;:h,. and it .is intimed meddling lS irritatipg and ha.rmfUl'I' conceivable that every Nationalist III Ire. 'but in the National caus!' Ireland st::nds land should be led to. offer the supreme as it ever did, the gr~a_t ámajority w~th I s. -.crifice of all by people who could not dear ideals and ,proffer.ng 'ready SefVI.Ce induce them to make a modification of for Ireland, the minority insignificant and Ilheir old policy. The Provisional Com. ruedchliug with no real ca'P~city for .w~:k. mittee have led the movement \~isely and It was such meddling that at the Willa', well. To them belongs the credit cf havtion áof th,e movement gave Ireland a "'rpng; iug established it, and the.rs was the wisimpression as to the attitude 0-£ the Irish dom that foresaw its necessity as aKa.' Party and with muddle-headed incompe- tional weapon even before the Irish Party tence confused the issue between aKaá deemed it politically essential. They have tio~al Army and a Xat;onal political party gi~'en everything possible to make the and paved the way for some test expresá movement the success that it is to-day, sions that escaped as to the personnel of and only a committee composed as the the Volunteer movement Prov'sional Committee was could have done so much. It was. Ibecause it offered a common IFlatform to the different National pa-rties that it swept Ireland from sea to sea, and it was because that it :\t a time even when the 'policy of the largely represented the policy of the Iris}, I'arty looked far less :llcce~,;flli. than Party thai it got the followers of that Party 1I0W, and when other parties with Ideals: into the ranks. The whole question, as of a more rnif.tant :!\"uátion.u1 policy pur., we said before, is scarcely worth bother. SUEd an active campaign in opposition, ing about, but there will be no split and e.very ~n~ex showed in what dHectJo~ no trouble in the raub. 'Yhat~ver hap. lie opinion tended. And 110 iparty In he- pens, whoever 15 on the committees, the land ever boasted within recent years th~t ,. men. of Irela~d are. arming for, Ireland, they had weaned the people from constr- r.nd their husiness IS to be efficient sol. tutional aágita~:on whose' ltcders was the dicrs and obey orders. Irish Party. So to.day when close on 200,000 Irishmen are drilling and arming with the avowed object of achieving and protecting Irish freedom, the custodians of National opinion need scarcely fear that those who disagree with them on matter ,l\:[~anwhile Ireland wants rifles. If a of Ip:olicy' can exercise even a modicum of Volunteer force is any good to any party influence on the movement. i.t must be an armed force. And no-w that
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Ireland's Voice
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Get The Proclamation , Withdrawn
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Control
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The whole question of control is a trifle .. For if a hundred men were nominated to control the movement they would be equally helpless except {hey represented the (~pinions of the Volunteers in !JIC mass -. On the other hand, with nominations or with' all)' elective scheme the movement 'Was eyer such a storm as the letter wri- must perforce represent the opinion of the ters and the leader writers _of the daily great body of the Irish people. If a Home Press have made duringi.the week? Every Rule Parlament were established to-rnorpronouncement .. made has been invested row and if the present Irish Parliamentary with a weird significance that the authors Party were the Irish Government, the Yolo
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never intended it to convey, until every l'0teers would naturally be at their dis., cnemv of Ireland is shrieking posak'. and even. jubilantly .. '. then if they mishandled at what they re~,"rd as a ne\~ Irish 'áspht." it, in other words, were they sufficien.ly :\ n:1 ri:: of Volunteer cJn:)s have helped I OUI of to uch with the Irish people to misI () Sfl!T:::il tIl'; impression abroad Iby ex- I understand their needs and ideals, the reo i Iprcssions of opinion premature and ill-con- , venge would be swift, and that party _ ceived, reading into Mr. Redmond's pro. I would cease to be the Government. Siminouncernent a hostility to the movement! larly to-day, no fo~ce in Ireland and no that his words deny. It's about ti~e to' party in Ireland' can influence for ill the stop all this fooling and keep on with the' destinies of the movement, which are safe work for which the National Army was'j! in the Natio~al sentiments of the Irish Iounded. people. :
1I-Ir Redmond has IPointad' ont that the Yolo unteers are a ipolit.ical necessity we may look forward confidently to the withdrawal of tbe Proclamation forbidding the impor. tation of ar111S. .But one thing should 'be guarded against. The Provisional Committee must See to it that the Volunteers do 'not become a mere physical culture association or debating society. 'Yi.ill a guarantee th,:t Ireland would be free to import arms immediately, Ireland is. safe. An instruction, c , Drill and be ready and when we think you want arms they \"v~1I he forthcoming is suicidal to Irish- inter, est s and to the Volunteer movement, If the Pl'o'claJnation cannot be lifted it must ,. e f aug.ht bv .) s orne mean . s, b ut we must have the Q")lns. -
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Saturday, J.une 201 1914
A way with Crap/raps
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Drill and A",m On with the qa.U-SB. Drill, arm and prepare, Keep discussions and debates out of the drill hall and the route march. Every má"á .-' 'loins the Vo~~:eers 'is a . soldier ,. ,), not a .pollhClan, whatever he
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Price, ld. may ])e outside. There is work for all earnest, manly work, and work that only the men of Ireland can do. So' much. progress has been made dnring the past six months that some of the 'r~nglish military correspondents point out that we have already made more progress th-r n Engl;ll:~ has nu: de in a .. many years with the Ter-
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rirorinl scheme and with an .exp.elldi~ure of a c'-;up!e cf millions 3. year. 1 he rght spirit is behind pmgres5 l ike that, "and in . the Ileal' futnre that 1)J'ogess wi ll be accoIerutc.l.
volunteers and Volunteers So ::( very estimable people are quite mistaken as to the functions of the _Volun. teer movement. They believe that the Volunteers should as a body endeavour to Iorwnrd all the causes that have achieved a fair measure of popul~r sup. port or that are instrinsically just in themselves. \Ye have had many letters advoc;;ting that the 'VO]tlDá teers should be :ill Gaelic Leaguers, Temperance' Reformers, and ether things, One lady suggests that practically the Volunteers should be a society for prevention of cruelty to animals, amongst other things. As a Volunteer every unit should be a Volunteer, a. voluntary soldier for Ireland, and if he is a good Volunteer he will probably be interested in many other movements for social and national welfare also, but the duty of the movement is to turn out efficient soldiers from the best citizens that join it, not to make citizens of soldiers, though it will also make better citizens.
Attention Support the Volunteer Movement