On Friday week Mr. Asquith spoke to an enthusiastic meeting
in Dublin, having with him on the platform the leaders of the Irish Nationalists and delegates from the Irish Unionist Alliance. In the morning a cave of the National Volunteers had published an anti-recruiting manifesto, but this seemed to have had no effect, and the mixed meeting cheered heartily every demand for more recruits to fight against Germany. The war, said Mr. Asquith, was the out- come of a deliberate German policy, but Germany had made fatal mistakes. She had ignored Belgium—a mistake, by the way, which Moltke always carefully avoided on military grounds—and she had assumed that Britain would not stand by her pledges. Irish regiments were renowned for their valour, but we wanted more of them. It might be possible to keep the new Irish regiments in a special Irish Brigade, and competent officers of the National Volunteers might hope to receive commissions.
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