IRELAND'S DITTY TO HER SOLDIERS.
(TO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR ,—I think the following extracts from an article entitled " Ireland's Honour and Interest " in the Tuam Herald of Satur- day, the 7th inst., will show that at any rate one Nationalist newspaper—though I fear that here the Tuam Herald is fighting a lone battle—has the pluck and generosity to take a worthy line in regard to Ireland and the recruiting problem. After declaring that there has been a sad slackening in Ireland during the last six months, with the result that the three Irish Divisions are fast disappearing, it states that the men who say that nothing is now needed are either blind to the effects of such a craven course as they advocate or are deliberately misleading the people :- "Something must be done. Things cannot remain as they are. Ireland deliberately took tip a certain clear, defined line of action, and up to May last it faithfully and honourably followed it. Since the ill-starred Sinn Fein rising Irelaad has failed in its duty in this respect. The honourable understanding which it entered into with England when war broke out it is neglecting to carry out, and this breach of contract on its part deprives us of any ground for consideration out here or if persisted in of special treatment now. We cannot have it both ways."
The Tuam Herald goes on :-
" The stupid plea that this war does not concern Ireland no honest man believes or ever believed, for every one knows that it does as closely as it does England. The excuse for Irish inaction that we have already done enough is equally insincere and equally dishonest. There is no limitation to duty but the capacity to perform it. Ireland did not enter on this war on a limited liability contract to give a certain contribution and no more. That is the plea of a trickster and not of an honourable people. The excuse is worse than the act—perfidious and disgraceful as it is."
It concludes its article as follows :- "Assume Ireland persists in her course of traitor truancy and that the war ends without any further or other effort than she has up to this made, where are we when we come to ask for our sus- pended statutory Home Rule? We got it because we said we were loyal and anxious for the integrity and safety of the Empire. We expect to get it by showing a disposition in our later mood which conflicts with the idea of either loyalty or desire to uphold the Empire. We must make our choice and cannot have our cake and eat it."
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