The Irish on the Somme; being the second series of "The Irish at the front,"

Macdonagh Michael 1862-

Sujets

• Somme
• Great Britain
• Armed Forces
• World War

Informations

• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

of the
of Toronto
W. Macneile DixonProfessorTHE IRISH ON THE SOMMETHE IRISH
SOMMEON THE
BEING THE SECOND SERIES OF
AT THE FRONT""THE IRISH
MICHAEL MACDONAGHBy
Author "Irish and Character"of Life
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
M.P.REDMOND,JOHN
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
MCMXVIITO
THE MEMORY OF
WILLIAM M.P.REDMOND,MAJOR
ROYAL REGIMENTIRISH (IRISH BRIGADE)
WHO DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION
JUNE 7, 1917
LEADING HIS MEN IN THE ATTACK
ON WYTSCHAETE WOODINTRODUCTION
M.P.BY REDMOND,JOHN
THE IRISH RACETHE RESPONSE OF
isTHIS war is a war of and itsliberation, battle-cry
the and liberties of From the veryrights humanity.
of of the Irishthe conflictbeginning my colleagues
and I have availed ofParty, myself, every opportunity
in on the and in the toPtess,Parliament, platform,
this view of it to the Irish race at home andpresent
and the mistakes made inabroad; despite tragic
to Ireland the successive Governmentsregard by
which have held office since war broke we areout,
still unshaken in our that Ireland'sopinion highest
interests lie in andthe speedy overwhelming victory
of and the Allies.England
The of the Irish race the world over toresponse
our to rise in defence of civilisation and free-appeal
dom has been wonderful. The was
really example
set Ireland herself.by
At the outbreak of the war I asked the Irish people,
and the men of to mark theespecially young Ireland,
which has been about in theprofound change brought
relations of Ireland to the Empire by wholeheartedlyINTRODUCTION
in field. I thatthe Allies the outsupporting pointed
at after centuries of thelast, misunderstanding,long
Great Britain had andofdemocracy finally irrevocably
Ireland with and Idecided to trust self-government;
concessioncalled Ireland to that this ofupon prove
would have the same effect in our ascountryliberty
it has had in other of the andevery portion Empire,
Ireland would be a insteadthat henceforth strength
I the warof a weakness. further out that waspointed
the intolerable ofprovoked by military despotism
that it was a war in defence of small nation-Germany,
and that Ireland would be false to her ownalities,
asand well as totraditions, honour,history good
faith and if she did not toself-interest, respond my
appeal.
The answer to that is one of the mostappeal
facts in At the moment,astonishing history. fraught
with the most terrible to the wholeconsequences
this found for the first time in theEmpire, Kingdom
of the relations between Great Britain and
history
Ireland that the Irish Nationalist members, repre-
the mass theof ofsenting overwhelming people
were enabled to declare themselves theIreland, upon
side of did that with theirEngland. They eyes
knew the difficulties in theopen. They way. They
knew none so well the distrust and ofsuspicion
British faith which had in the uni-been,good past,
versal almost in Ireland. that theThey recognised
boon of had not beenself-government finally granted
to their knew the traditionalcountry. They hostility
which existed in of Ireland tomany parts recruiting