IRELAND• AND CONSCRIPTION.
[To THE Emma or TEE " Brzerwroa."] Ste,—The writer has taken an active part in Irish public affairs for over forty years, and has spent most of the time in intimate relationship with the Irish people, of all classes and creeds; in addition, he has represented in Parliament for over five years an Irish Nationalist constituency, and has had extensive experience of every phase of Irish life; and the conclusion he has come to is that you are absolutely right in your view that Conscription should be applied at once to Ireland. The Government have weakly lost many opportunities, but the time is again ripe for the• experiment, and it should not be postponed. Every one living in the country and knowing the existing state of mind of the people is quite aware that the present effort to secure recruits will, nay must, be a-complete failure, and what that means to our Armies in France is known to every one who has been in that country and has had experience of the terrible results owing to a shortage of men which have followed our shortcomings last March. Irishmen will join up when they are told distinctly and authorita- tively they must do so, not one moment before. I know something about recruiting, as I have been engaged in the work for some time. About last April, when Conscription was thought certain to come, the recruiting stations were crowded with men, in fact the• crush was great. As soon as it was apparent that our poor- spirited Government were undecided, the wave gradually subsided; and now we receive two or three a week, whereas we were getting fourteen or fifteen a day. Will Englishmen never understand Ireland or Irishmen? All our troubles in the past were due to this central fact. An Irishman, sharp and quick-witted, at once knows the character of the people he has to deal with, and acts accordingly. lie knows by instinct the people he can befool and humbug; just sow he knows he has met his match in the persons of Lord French and Mr. Shortt, and he will be guided in his actions accordingly. lie may bluster and threaten, but he knows just as well as that be lives that he is powerless, and he is also aware, because dozens have told me so, that it is his duty and his own interest to join_ either the Navy or the Army and defend his country against the persecuting Hun. But such is the peculiar kink in his character, he will not unbend until he finds resistance is -useless. Once he sees this, as he was beginning to see it last April, the gate will be pushed open and a regular flood of the best of young Irish manhood will flow to the recruiting depots. Men who occupy the position of governors of Ireland should know this, and they should not spend precious time, and unliaiited cash, in vain attempts to provide at the best tt very inadequate substitute for the full share of men Ireland should furnish to the fighting forces of the Empire. In addition to the actual value of the men, the lessons learned by those recruited would be of untold use when the war was over and the discharged soldiers returned to their different homes, with eyes opened and experience gained, and most of the unpractical nonsense and narrowness which disfigure the Irish character buried in the war trenches of Franco and Flanders. How it is the British people can tolerate elderly men of fifty being torn from their homes and made join the Army while young, strong, vigorous Irishmen in thousands can stay quietly at home, with pockets full of money, and spend a large part of their time at race meetings, night dances, gambling, cock- fighting, card-playing, drinking, and other similar occupations has always been a mystery to me. One thing I do know, having seen something of this war on the spot, that if we are to win we will require every man in these countries able to fire a rifle, and that the sooner we have them and train them the safer we shall be. Conscription in Ireland is a necessity, and the man or men ire authority who refuse to put it in force are traitors to their ling and country and deserve impeachment. —I am, Sir; &c.,
EDWARD THOMPSON
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