John Redmond - European Conflict Intervenes

European Conflict Intervenes

The outbreak of World War I in August 1914 caused the enforcement of Home Rule to be postponed for the duration of the conflict. Judged from the perspective of that time, Redmond had won a form of triumph: he had secured the enactment of Home Rule with the provision that the implementation of the measure would be delayed "not later than the end of the present war", which "would be bloody but short lived". His Unionist opponents were in confusion and dismayed by the enactment of Home Rule and by the absence of any definite provisions for the exclusion of Ulster. In two speeches delivered by Redmond in August and September 1914, deemed as critical turning-points in the Home Rule process, he stated:

"armed Nationalist Catholics in the South will be only too glad to join arms with the armed Protestant Ulstermen in the North. Is it too much to hope that out of this situation there may spring a result which will be good, not merely for the Empire, but good for the future welfare and integrity of the Irish nation?"

Under these circumstances any political bargaining might well have been disastrous to Home Rule. Redmond desperately wanted and needed a rapid enactment of the Home Rule Act, and undoubtedly his words were a means to that end. He called on the country to support the Allied and British war effort and Britain's commitment under the Triple Entente; this was a calculated response to the situation principally in the belief that the attained measure of self-government would be granted in full after the war and to be in a stronger position to stave off a final partition of Northern Ireland. His added hope was that the common sacrifice by Irish nationalists and Unionists would bring them closer together, but above all that nationalists could not afford to allow Ulster Unionists to reap the benefit of being the only Irish to support the war effort, when they spontaneously enlisted in their 36th (Ulster) Division.

Speaking at Maryborough, now Port Laoise, on the 16 August 1914, he addressed a 2,000 strong assembly of Irish Volunteers, some armed, and according to the report in the Irish Times stated, "recently, I took the liberty of saying in the English Parliament that, for the first time in the history of the connection between England and Ireland, it was safe to-day for England to withdraw her armed troops from our country and that the sons of Ireland themselves, North and South, Catholic and Protestant, and whatever the origin of their race might have been – Williamite, Cromwellian, or old Celtic – standing shoulder to shoulder, would defend the good order and peace of Ireland, and defend her shores against any foreign foe. (Cheers.)

I am glad to recognise the response which my words evoked. From every part of Ireland I have received assurances from the Irish Volunteers that they accepted my suggestion, and that they were ready to fulfil the duty that I indicated. (Cheers.) And more than that – perhaps, better and happier than that – I have had evidence from every part of Ireland, from the North as well as from the South, of a desire on the part of men who in the past have been divided from us, to come in at this hour of danger and peril – this hour which may be fraught with the happiest consequences for our country. They are prepared to come in and stand shoulder to shoulder with their Catholic Nationalist countrymen in every quarter of the country.

I say here to you: Welcome these men; they are Irishmen as much as you. (Cheers.) For the first time, perhaps, a real, favourable opportunity has been afforded to them of joining hands with us, and if now the ideal that we all have at heart comes to be realised, the result will be that out of this moment of seeming danger we will win for our country the most inestimable treasure to be obtained, in creating a free and united Ireland – united North and South, Catholic and Protestant. (Cheers.)

I read a couple of days ago in the public Press an account of the departure for the seat of war of one of the most gallant Irish regiments in the world, the Inniskilling Fusiliers; and I read how they were escorted from Enniskillen by the united bodies of the Ulster Volunteers and the National Volunteers. Pray God that may be an omen for the future. You are not drilling and arming to attack any body of your fellow-countrymen. God forbid that should ever take place.

I have in my possession – and it will be possible for me very shortly to distribute them –several thousands of rifles. (Cheers.) In addition to that, I have information to the effect that the Government are about to arm and equip and drill a large number of the Irish Volunteers with the rifles which my colleagues and I will supply. With the rifles which are being supplied from various other quarters, and with the arms from the Government, the day is near when, I believe, every Irish Volunteer will have a rifle in his possession. (Cheers.)"