THE IRISH NATIONAL VOLUNTEERS.
[To THE EDITOE OF THE n SPECTATOR:1 Suit,—I venture to express my dissent from the proposition that the object of the Irish National Volunteers is the coercion of Ulster. They will not be used for that purpose unless Ulster cannot otherwise be coerced, and after the Ulster affair is over they will in any case have other work to do—I mean to secure the autonomy of the Irish Parliament and its complete independence (at least, so far as Ireland is concerned) of the Imperial Parliament at Westminster. These National Volunteers are the successors of the Irish Volunteers of 1782. At that time the Irish Parliament was completely controlled by the English Parliament (which was not an Imperial Parliament, Ireland returning no members to it). The English Parliament could pass laws for Ireland and repeal the laws made for Ireland by the Irish Parliament. But the revolt of our North American Colonies took most of the English troops out of Ireland, and when France took the side of the Colonists it became necessary to provide against a French invasion of Ireland. Hence the Irish Volunteers of the eighteenth century. But the patriots Grattan and Flood, and in the Upper House Lord Charlemont, obtained the control of the Volunteers, and came forward simultaneously with a claim for the independence of the Irish Parliament The English Government soon found that the troops that they could send to Ireland to repress an insurrection would be no match for the Volunteers. They yielded, and conceded to the Irish Parliament the same powers in Ireland that they them- selves possessed in England. This was in 1782. It was only from 1782 that Ireland possessed an independent Parliament. During the interval the Volunteers first got out of hand, and afterwards were allowed to disappear. They consequently proved no obstacle to the Union Act of 1800. The object of the Volunteers of 1914 is to restore to the Irish Parliament the powers which it possessed after the settlement of 1782. The Volunteers are to be organized by the State and to obey the orders of the party leaders.—I am, Sir, &c., X.
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