(MAY 1915)
We want recruits because we have undertaken a service which we believe
to be of vital importance to our country, and because that service needs
whatever there is of manly stuff in Ireland in order to its effective
rendering.
We want recruits because we have a standard to rally them to. It is not
a new standard raised for the first time by the men of a new generation.
It is an old standard which has been borne by many generations of Irish
men, which has gone into many battles, which has looked down upon much
glory and upon much sorrow; which has been a sign to be contradicted,
but which shall yet shine as a star. There is no other standard in the
world so august as the standard we bear; and it is the only standard
which the men of Ireland may bear without abandoning their ancient
allegiance. Individual Irishmen have sometimes fought under other
standards: Ireland as a whole has never fought under any other.
We want recruits because we have a faith to give them and a hope with
which to inspire them. They are a faith and a hope which have been
handed down from generation to generation of Irish men and women unto
this last. The faith is that Ireland is one, that Ireland is inviolate,
that Ireland is worthy of all love and all homage and all service that
may lawfully be paid to any earthly thing; and the hope is that Ireland
may be free. In a human sense, we have no desire, no ambition but the
integrity, the honour, and the freedom of our native land.
We want recruits because we are sure of the rightness of our cause. We
have no misgivings, no self-questionings. While others have been
doubting, timorous, ill at ease, we have been serenely at peace with our
consciences. The recent time of soul-searching had no terrors for us. We
saw our path with absolute clearness; we took it with absolute
deliberateness. “We could no other.” We called upon the names of the
great confessors of our national faith, and all was well with us.
Whatever soul-searchings there may be among Irish political parties now
or hereafter, we go on in the calm certitude of having done the clear,
clean, sheer thing. We have the strength and the peace of mind of those
who never compromise.
We want recruits because we believe that events are about to place the
destinies of Ireland definitely in our hands, and because we want as
much help as possible to enable us to bear the burden. The political
leadership of Ireland is passing to us--not, perhaps, to us as
individuals, for none of us are ambitious for leadership and few of us
fit for leadership; but to our party, to men of our way of thinking:
that is, to the party and to the men that stand _by Ireland only_, to
the party and to the men that stand by the nation, to the party and to
the men of one allegiance.
We want recruits because we have work for them to do. We do not propose
to keep our men idle. We propose to give them work--hard work, plenty of
work. We would band together all men capable of working for Ireland and
give them men’s work.
We want recruits because we are able to train them. The great majority
of our officers are now fully competent to undertake the training of
Irish Volunteers for active service under the conditions imposed by the
natural and military facts of the map of Ireland. Those officers who are
not so competent will be made competent in our training camps during the
next few months.
We want recruits because we are able to arm them. In a rough way of
speaking, we have succeeded already in placing a gun and ammunition
therefor in the hands of every Irish Volunteer that has undertaken to
endeavour to pay for them. We are in a position to do as much for every
man that joins us. We may not always have the popular pattern of gun,
but we undertake to produce a gun of some sort for every genuine Irish
Volunteer; with some ammunition to boot. Finally:
We want recruits because we are absolutely determined to take action the
moment action becomes a duty. If a moment comes--as a moment seemed on
the point of coming at least twice during the past eighteen months--when
the Irish Volunteers will be justified to their consciences in taking
definite military action, such action will be taken. We do not
anticipate such a moment in the very near future; but we live at a time
when it may come swiftly and terribly. What if Conscription be forced
upon Ireland? What if a Unionist or a Coalition British Ministry
repudiate the Home Rule Act? What if it be determined to dismember
Ireland? What if it be attempted to disarm Ireland? The future is big
with these and other possibilities.
And these are among the reasons why we want recruits.
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