The Irish Volunteer - Volume 2 - Number 34

Page 1

THE

EDITED BY EOIN MAC NEILL. Vol. 2 .

No. 34

SATURDAY, JULY 31, 1915.

(New Series).

H Irishme n ha1·e 1nu1K·y tu :;par· fuJ- iun·stinc11t, the suundest and by fa1: tile must rem unerative iu.1·estmen t the y can ·make a t present is in Irish Volunteer ec1uipment and tra ining. Thi · is no oratorical figu~·e of speech . It is a matter .of ordinary common sense and of business calculation. It is based un the fact that Ireland is at p~esent threatened with a vastly increased drain on her resources, and a drain that threaten~ to Le permanent. Xo one has Yentured to show that Ireland can hope to make a profit o ut uf what she will be asked to p~t)'. No une bas been ~t ble to show how Ireland can hope to reconp herself in part for what ·she stands to lose. Ko one has be~n able to show that the financial and econori1ic effect on Irela11d will be anyth ing Lut dead loss , destruction of economic prugress, and conseqttent de1Jopubtion a.ncl i~1p0Yerishment.

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Time~' " report of another Mansion H otbc mct:ting held in Dublin on July 5th. The Lord - Mayor of Dublin presided . Wt: arc not told that the alldience was large, but it was cerLainly select, for it "induded judges, railway directu1:s, bishops, bankers , and representatives of Irish me rcantile ho uses,'' and a gllal'd of Nat.ional Volunteers. Pr.esumably the Volunteer& were there under orders from their authority in chief. Their presence reminds one of Dean Swift's berses on the build ing of the Magazine Fort in the l'hrenix Park:

t ha 1·e read carefu)l y the " l rish

Behold a proof of Irish sense, H ere Irish wit is seenWhen nothing's left that's worth defence, They build a N.fagazine . This time the situation is . still more topsyLurvy, and for the Dean's last two lines ,;.e might substitute : We send a guard to watch and ward Until we're plunde red clean.

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Strangely enough the "Ir ish Times " supplies no list of the select members of the audience, and we are left to wonder who the -bishops were that are sandwiched in the report between railway directors and bankers. If Dean Swift were alive t<rday ! In his own day he accounted in his own 'll'_:·1y for the pa:i;.t played in Ireland by the bishops of his own

These bi hops, be said , were made

land, followed . H e acquitted himself well in pe rforming his duty as a British Minister, as bishops in London, but on their ,,~"lY to H olyhead they were al ways intercepted by higbwav- we ba1·e always under tood and experienced it. · men, who took possess ion of the episcopal g<;r- H e came there, he sa id, "because, among o~ber mcub ~tncl the c"j_Ji:;copal [><1p1:·rs ·arHJ came on to thin gs, _the pupulation of Ireland have money f're !.aud, \\'here they wcr · rccciYc d as bishop:; _tu lend. " As the Lord Lieutenant spoke on and· e njoyed all lhe adYa11tage · of their pre- l ~ b alf _uf a ":\ati~11al GoYernment, " meaning 1·ious occupation · irithout incurri11g any of it~ the present Cualit iun Government, so Sir J. ri~ks. .That \i'aS in- the crude.. old clays ~f Simon sa id, "We are now inaugurating a great Impt:rialism, before tl:~ e modern art of gm·ei-n- ~a ti onal Loa n," meaning __the Imperial War . . I rng . Ireland bad · been deve101:i cl . · lt . is no Loan. Thus from each of the three prin:cipals longer necessary to send bi gbwaynien to Ire- · at the meeting, the guest-house of Ireland's la nd as "judges, raih1'ay directors , bishops, capital receiYed a new lesson on the meaning bankers, and beads of me rcantile ho uses ." uf the wurd:; " nation " and "national. " Sir Ireland itself, lJr'Operly handled , i:; relied upon Jobn explained that, because the p ri ces of to provide nearl y all the de1ruty highwaymen agricultural produce had gone up some what, and burglar:; lhat Ehe predominant plunderer " that is why Ireland has a ,;rcat duty tu d i ~ ­ requires for the "government " uf [relaml. cbarge fur the United Kingdom ." Most [risbmcn think the Galance of debt is on the otber -J<: ., * side of the account, but as Sir John rema rked The tir:;t item ou the Man:ion H o use proearlie r- " L adies and gentlemen, the Briti ~h gramme was a letter from Mr. -John E. Government- you know the British . G01-ern- · R ed mond , M . l'. Mr. Red monLl had nuthing men t pretty well- does nut do these thing · unto say, he has neYer yet found au ything to sa y, less it thinh. they are going to pay." The about the economic and financial .prospect now interjected remark'was distinctly humorous, but loomiug before hi:; cuuntry. "Ireland,'' he not a laugh is reported, even frum tbc jt1< lgcs wrote, "is cluing he r dut y nobly and Yaliantly and the bishops. in the lield , and I am perfectly sure th<tt in * * * the matter of the War Loan and national thrift Lord I veagh moved a vote of thanks to tbtc her people will nut be behiml their fellow·· H ome Secre tary, and his resolution " comsul>jects in Great Britain . ., H e also " wi~hecl mended tl~e \Var Loan as an investment helpful the meeting e1·ery success ." Thi s was the only tc -the Nation " -the Nation once again, and letter the " Irish Times ., thought worth pulJ" appealed to all classes of the community w lishing. adopt rigid personal economy ." H e welcomer.I * * Sir John "as a member of the Government "- The Lord Mayur opened the meeting and the Coalition Government- " upon whose skill spoke playfully ::ibout bow the Government and Yigilan·e the destinies of our Nation demight get al Lhe rnurn:y that wa · in the moneypend. " The Nation once again! The War bags in Du!Jlin, and "cua x the posses:;ors tu .Loan, he said, was "help ful to the ~ation. " lend that mc:ney to- t.lte N atiou "--mean ing, of The ::\ation once again! "The Nation,'' be course, the nation to which the Lord Mayor said, "requires a vas t sum of money to secure belongs . The Lord Lieutenant followed, and 1·icto ry ." Once again, the Nat ion ! was equally playful. He said : "I think there * * * is, as the Lord Mayor has said, no reason to Mr. P. J. Brady, M.P. for the division suppose that Irelancl should not enjoy a I live in, spoke next, but 1s not reported to pecuniary p re-em inence amongst the other h~m:: mentioned the Nation. H e said "tliey daugh ters of the Empire ." This is a ne w and we re not asked to give mone y, but to kuJ it. " interesting account of Ireland's pedigree, al)d That shows the real kindness of the British as it is my duty to study and teach Ireland's Government, which, as Sir John sai<l, we know early history, I trust his Excellency will find pretty well. I wo~cler how Mr. Brady would an opportunity of letting me know when . and receive me if I went to him for the loan of a under what circumstances the Empire gave . fiver, and said . to him: " (don't ask you to give birth to Irela~d. " P ecuniary pre-eminence" it, only to lend it. · I will pay you interest on will sound. well when the prospect begins to be it, and I will raise the interest' off you to pay realised. · 1t. I will mayte pay off 'the loa n instal· ·X· * me11ls in a century or two, and ·I: will 41i se the Sir John Simon, Home Secretary for Eng-

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Church.

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