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methods and to be kept up unremitting-
ly until the Peace Conference shall meet
to settle the issues of the war and pre-
pare to make such another war impos-
sible
This work will require a large amount
of money, and an appeal for $100,000
home filled with the purpose of raising
this mone nd convincing their
Am n friends and neighbors of the
justice “of Treland’s claim to freedom
Several notable speeches were made,
among the best of them being delivered
by priests, both young and old, but none
He had prepared his speech
and read from type-written sheets,
ADDRESS OF JOHN DEVOY.
a
This Conference has been called for
the purpose of drafting a petition to
the President and Congress of the
United States, and of taking counsel as
to the best means of meeting the situ-
ation which confronts the Irish Race to-
day, both in the Old Land and in Amer-
That situation is undoubtedly
very serious, but not beyond the capac-
ity, the courage and resourcefulness of
the Race. Our race has lived through
seven and a half centuries of a struggle
unparaleted in the world’s history and
has emerged from it intact and uncon-
quered, with its high Weal untarnish-
ed and its determination to be free un-
broken and unbreakable.
It is not a time for speech making,
or phrasemongering, but for clear think-
ing and planning, for calm considera-
tion of actual facts and cool
delineration as to the best
practical means of advancing the
cause which has been handed down to
us by the generations that have gone
before us. nd when our plans
formulated, our action must be resolute,
continuous and progressive. We must
adhere strictly to the policy agreed
upon, all acting as one man and present-
ing a spectacle of unity that will im-
press the world. We cannot win ou
cause by independent or guerilla action,
every group, clique and clan following
its own course, or its own hobby, but
we can and must succeed by co-ordin-
ated action, every man subordinating
his judgment to the collective wisdom
of the majority. That is true Demac-
racy. Individual or group action brings
only confusion and failure. For cen
turies we fought England by clans and
groups of clans, or by counties and
groups of counties, and for centuries we
were continuously beaten. The lesson
taught us by Irish history is that we
must stand and fight as a united people
—as a Nation—ar, be beaten again,
were recorded except that of.
% . \ 7 oN ae o ent 7 7 “ eee
; f
e must not be beaten again. We
must win, but in order to win we must
irresistible force that will restore Ire
land to the place that belongs to her
among the free and independent nations
of the world.
THE LESSON TAUGHT BY FOCH.
revolutionary movement that aims
war who lives to-day, the truest interp-
reter ot Napoleon, who was the greatest
wher
pleases, even if success should be at-
tained thereby.
INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP ACTION
DANGEROUS.
That is the principle by which the
action of the Irish movement of to-day
must be guided. If it follows it out
faithfully and resolutely it will succeed:
if it departs from it success will be im-
majority have placed in command. They
may be brave, patriotic and devoted
men, but they will be none the less re-
sponsible for throwing the national
forces into disarray and bringing about
defeat. We have, had many instances
of this perverted individualism in Irisk
history, the most conspicuous of whic!
was Hugh O’Donnell’s precipitate ac-
tion which caused the irretrievable dis-
aster of Kinsale in 1602. Yet Hugh
O’Donnell was on of the finest figures
in Irish histo
We must stand or fall together. That
will keép the physical courage under
absolute control.
A PRACTICALLY UNITED IRELAND.
The sacrifice of Easter Week was
necessary to bring back the soul of Ire-
land, and who will deny to- aay that it
succeeded? The men who died in the
streets of Dublin and those, who faced
the firing squad in 1916 restored Ireland
to herself and made a return to the old
o
completed and perpetuated by Eng-
land’s folly and utter barrenness in
statesmanship.
e have now, thanks to the men of
Europe after
the war has come ‘to an en
INSURRECTION NOW IMPOSSIBLE.
Insurrection under present circum-
r
by Ireland, but the entry of the United
States into the war has settled that
question for the time being. To at-
fighting on the side of En
not alone result in useless slaughter of
the manhood of Ireland, but would turn
Peace Conference. It is possible she
may not get that help, but an insurrec-
tion during the war would make it abso-
PANTASTIO FALSEHOODS TO IN-
RELAwD.
ae in Ireland, great or
small, has decided on a policy of insur-
rection since America entered the war.
The published statements that a new w in-
surrection was planned are deliberate
falsehoods, invented for the purpose of
injuring Ireland in America and of
making the leaders of the: Irish people
appear to be fools, incapable of plan-
ning a national policy and hostile to
the only country capable of helping Ire-
land in the present situation. The men
who fabricated these falsehoods, from
Lloyd George to the minor American
officials who aided him, and the Ameri-
ating them, are actuated by the vile
motive of discrediting and injuring the
cause of Irish liberty. There is not,
there never was, a scrap of genuine
eviden ce to prove the charge, and the
failure of the British Government to
bring to trial the men and women they
hold untried and unindicted in
English: jails amounts to an admission
that no such evidence exists.
e same is true here in America.
The fantastic story published by Flynn
when he’ was Chief of the Secret Service
the Government of the United States.
DEPENDENCE WHOLLY ON
AMERICA,
Our policy is plain, straightforward,
and above boar t is based on t
Declaration made i the public meeting
eld in Carnegie Hall on Easter Sun-
day, April 8, 1917, and formulated in a
circular issued on April 22, 1917, which
aid:
“It is hereby declared by the Execu-
tive that, during the continuance of the
>
entirely to securing the National Inde-
pendence of Ireland through the inter-
vention of the Government of the United
States; that the work of securing such
intervention be carried on strictly in
accordance with American law; that
every Club, or group of Clubs, be form-
ed into a committee for that purpose.
nd clause or section of the
Constitution of the Organization which
may conflict with this purpose is here
by suspended until the end of the war.
to continue the work of assisting the
people of Ireland to secure the estab-
lishment of an Irish Republic.”
In an explanatory statement issued on
April 28, 1917, the following warning
was given:
“British agents are ‘more numerous
than ever and are at their old work of
by the acts o
prejudice against us. Beware of them.
to break the law is either an enemy
the Irish Cause or a fool who saat
have no place among us.
“God save Ireland and long live the
United States.
“Tre EXxEcutTive.””
SPLENDID WORK OF IRISH WOMEN.
That policy has been strictly adhered
to ever since and much good work has
been done to promote it. Other organi-
zations of men and women have given
us very valuable help, particularly the
Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order
of Hibernians and the Cumann ‘na
mBan. For the splendid work of these
devoted women the Irish Race will be
grateful for all time, and the names of
Hannah Sheehy Skeffington and Mrs.
Mary McWhorter will go down the ages
among those who have shed lustre on
trish womanhood. And there are many
thousands of other Irish women equally
devoted.
