Vol. F No. 6
: Tosnochaimíd anois i n-ainm Dé. Tá dhá cheist le pléidhe againn an tráthnóna so. Sé an chéad cheist aca ná Teachtaireacht chum na nÉireannach i gCéin, agus an dara cheist, Ceist na nGeimhleach agus Fuadach na Leanbh.
Isé mian na Dála ná beidh aon lúthgháir ná aon bhualadh bas ag an lucht éisteachta an fhaid a bheidh an Dáil 'na suidhe. Glaodhaim anois ar Theachta Dhoire Cholm Chille.
: - A Chinn Chomhairle agus a mhuinntir na Dála, sé an gnó atá le déanamh agamsa ná Teachtaireacht do chur os bhúr gcomhair - teachtaireacht chum na nÉireannach i gCéin. An Teachtaireacht so atá agamsa níl mórán cainnte ann; tá sé chomh gearr agus chomh bríoghmhar is d'fhéadfainn é dhéanamh, agus sé seo é:-
"Do chum a bhfuil de mhuinntir na hÉireann agus dár ngaoltaibh ar sgapadh i dtíorthaibh eile, beatha agus sláinte! Ó Dháil Éireann atá ina suidhe i gcathair Átha Cliath cuirimíd sgéala chugaibh go bhfuil muinntir na hÉireann ag siubhal ar aghaidh i mbealach na Saoirse, gur ghabhamar an bóthar mór má's olc maith le cách é.
" An dlúth-cháirdeas do bhí riamh idir Éirinn agus a clann atá sgartha léi, is mian linn a nearthughadh agus a dhaingniughadh. Is mian linn báidh agus páirt agus caidreamh do nasgadh eadrainn féin agus sibhse, chun go gcabhrochamaoid le chéile d'fhonn Éire do chur i n-áird réim, agus gach aon mhaitheas agus ollmhaitheas is dual di do sholáthar feasta dhi, le congnamh Dé. Go mairidh ceart agus saoirse, go meathaidh éagcóir agus daoirse, ar fuid tíortha an domhain mhóir. "
Ní gádh dhom moladh dhíb an Teachtaireacht do chur i bhfeidhm. An dlúth-cheangal so atá luaidhte, is dóigh liom go bhfuil sé ann cheana féin. Táimid ar an mbóthar gceart anois, agus tuigeann Clanna Gaedheal a chéile níos fearr ná mar a thuigeadar a chéile riamh. Tuigid siad cad tá uatha agus cad is ceart dóibh a fhághail níos fearr ná mar a thuigeadar ariamh. Táid níos daingne chun a gceart féin do bhaint amach ná mar bhíodar ariamh. Chomh luath is a thuigeadar an ceart d'eirigheadar i n-aon tsluagh amháin chun an chirt sin do bhaint amach. Bhíodh congnamh le fághail ó cháirdibh na hÉireann thar lear i gcomhnuidhe, acht ní raibh ócáid ann riamh go dtí anois gur eirigh Clanna Gaedheal i n-aon bhuidhean amháin chun cabhrú le hÉirinn.
Nuair a bhí daoine i nÉirinn ag iarraidh "Home Rule" fuaireadh an chabhair ar shlighe, acht níor eirigh leis an lucht stiúrtha croidhe na hÉireann do mhúsgailt i gceart. Níor tuigeadh "Home Rule"; acht anois tuigeann gach éinne, gach fear, bean agus páisde cad é an rud bheith saor ar fad, agus a dtír do bheith dá riaghlú do réir a dtola.
Níor cheart gur gádh aon mhíniú i dtaoibh gur mhaith an rud neamhspleadhchas. Ba chóir go mbeadh fhios ag cách gur fearr go mór eireochadh le lucht aon tíre dá mbeadh a ngnó dá dhéanamh aca féin i n-ionad é bheith dá dhéanamh ag lucht tíre eile. Ní chun cabhair d'fhághail uatha atáimíd ag glaodhach ar ár gcáirde tharlear; is maith a rinneamar gan aon chabhair. Ní ag iarraidh déirce atáimíd ar chor ar bith, acht táimíd lán-chinnte go mbeidh an chabhair le fághail uatha- agus is maith an ceart dóibh é - nuair a chífidh siad go bhfuilimíd dílis dáiríribh, agus nuair a thuigfidh siad gurb amhlaidh atáimíd ag iarraidh ortha bheith páirteach i n-obair an tSaor-Stáit anso sa bhaile.
Tá comhacht mhór ag na daoine atá sgartha ó Éirinn, agus beidh siad céad uair níos láidre nuair a chífidh siad go bhfuilimídne sa bhaile ar aon inntinn agus sin fáth eile le comh-cheangal eadrainn féin.
Tuigimíd an droch-staid 'na bhfuil Éire; tá sí bochtaighthe, brúidhte; tá gach aon nídh goidthe uainn le fada ag an namhaid agus an lá atá indiu ann tá an namhaid abhfad níos measa ná mar bhí sé ariamh. Chím go soiléir na sgéimeanna atá ar láimh aige chun greim d'fhághail ar gach slíghe orainn, agus chun gan leigint dúinn leas do chur ar ár dtír féin. Caithfimíd troid 'na aghaidh sin, caithfear saoirse do bheith i slighe bheatha na ndaoine, chómh maith le saoirse sa stát, caithfeam saoirse do bheith againn chum ár n-earraidhe féin do chur thar lear, agus tá súil agam go mbeidh ár gcáirde thar lear ullamh chum congnamh do thabhairt dúinn san obair sin.
Nuair a chuirfimíd tús leis an obair sin ní dhéanfaidh tús beag an gnó. Má bhímíd ag tnú le rudaí beaga ní árdóchaimíd croidhe na nGaedheal thar lear. Má dheinimíd tús mór, maith, tuigfidh siad go mbeidh maitheas ann. Tá sprid na saoirse ag eirighe anáirde ar fuid an domhain, tá tír amháin, ámh, agus is é sprid na daoirse atá ann, agus sí sin Sasana do réir mo thuairme, agus ó buaileadh na Sasanaigh fé chois ag "William the Conqueror" 800 bliadhan ó shoin tá sprid na daoirse ag dul i méid i Sasana.
Sílim gur ceart dúinn ár lámha do shíneadh amach, ní hamháin chun ár muinntire féin, acht chun muinntir gach tíre 'na bhfuil sprid na saoirse ag fás. Léighfidh mé anois giota as páipéar i dtaoibh ceist na leasuighthe chun an méid atá agam do cruthugha. Baineann sé le Clár Leasuighthe a chraobhsgaoileadh ag Easbogaibh Aimeirice le déidheanaighe:
"That no woman should retain any occupation which was harmful to her health or morals; that if employed they should receive the same pay as men for equal work; that there was no reason why workers should not have more than a living wage if industry could support it; that bad housing should be abolished by the State; unjust manipulation with unnecessary middlemen should be suppressed by law; the curse of incessant profiteering should be frozen out by co-operative enterprise; that until the worker has been made self-supporting insurance against unemployment and old age should be provided by a levy on industry supplemented by the State when necessary; that there should be vocational training for the young but not to the detriment of a measure of liberal education."
Caithfeam troid do dhéanamh le gach dream, caithfidh athaireacha agus máthaireacha na bpáistidhe smaoineadh gur ceart dóibh fir agus mná do dhéanamh dá bpáistidhe agus ansan tuigfidh siad an sgéal i gceart.
Tá aigne na ndaoine athruighthe, tá solus na saoirse ag teacht chúcha, agus má eirighean linn caidreamh ceart do chur ar bun idir sinne agus lucht na saoirse thar lear níl fhios ag éinne acht ag Dia an méid tairbhe a thiocfaidh dá bharr.
The following is the message we propose to send to our kindred overseas:—
"To all the Irish race and to all our kindred dispersed in other lands we send our greeting. From Dáil Eireann to-day, assembled in the City of Dublin, we send you tidings that the people of Ireland are marching on the road of freedom, that ‘we have taken the highway, let others think it good or bad.'
"That close friendship which has ever been between Ireland and her children that are separated from her we desire to strengthen and confirm. We desire to bind fast the love, partnership and comradeship between you and ourselves so that we may work together to place Ireland in high degree and to earn for her all good and prosperity that is hers by natural right, with the help of God. ‘May right and freedom flourish, may wrong and bondage perish in every land of the world.'"
Messages had been sent abroad before, but, so long as they were concerned with proposals like Home Rule they failed to open the heart of the Irish Race, but there is not a child of the tenderest years that cannot under stand what is meant by what the Dáil stands for—complete national freedom. Freedom needed no explanation. There was no need to announce that things done under freedom are better done than in any other way. Hence the present message would be understood by every Irish mind. The message, however, was not one appealing for help. They in Ireland had done much of late without any help from outside the shores of Ireland. But if help be sent they would be grateful. They did not ask alms, but they believed that the Irish abroad would be all the more eager to assist them when they saw those at home earnest, and loyal, and determined.
Hence the Dáil look to the Irish abroad to make themselves partakers in the work of freedom.
The plans which the Dáil had made would be carried out in a spirit of high national dignity, and so would they arouse the heart of the Irish people overseas. The spirit of freedom was now rising throughout the world, and the only land in which the ideal of liberty appears not to be progressing was that land which sought to maintain Ireland in bondage.
It should be their part to welcome the rise of freedom and to hold out their hands to all who stood by liberty— particularly their own people — in foreign lands.
A programme of social reform and reconstruction that not long ago might be looked upon as revolutionary, but must now be regarded as practical and moderate, has been recently issued on behalf of the American Bishops and is destined to have enormous influence in evolving a new social order. Amongst the declarations included in that manifesto were the following:—"That no woman should retain any occupation which was harmful to her health or morals; that if employed they should receive the same pay as men for equal work; that there was no reason why workers should not have more than a living wage if industry could support it; that bad housing should be abolished by the State; unjust manipulation with unnecessary middlemen should be suppressed by law; the curse of incessant profiteering should be frozen out by co-operative enterprise; that until the worker has been made self-supporting insurance against unemployment and old age should be provided by a levy on industry supplemented by the State when necessary; that there should be vocational training for the young, but not to the detriment of a measure of liberal education."
Glaodhaim anois ar Theachta Chill Dara Theas aontugha leis an rún so.
A Chinn Chomhairle agus a lucht na Dála, aontuighim le gach focal atá ráidhte ag an dTeachta ó Dhoire Choluim Chille, agus measaim gur cóir agus gur ceart dúinn rún mar sin do chur chun Clanna Gaedheal thar lear agus dá bhrígh sin aontuighim leis an rún. Taréis a bhfuil ráidhte ní gádh dhomhsa mórán do rádh, agus is follus do gach duine conus mar atá an sgéal. Tá mórán dár muinntir thall san Oileán Úr, cad fá go bhfuilid ann? Tá fhios againn go maith cad é an fáth é. Roinnt bliadhanta ó shoin bhídis ag gabháil an bhóthair anso i nÉirinn, acht toisc an éagcóir a deineadh ortha b'éigin dóibh imtheacht. Má imthigheadar bhí fearg agus gráin 'na gcroidhthibh, agus rún chun beart do bhualadh ar na Sasanaigh.
Tháinig sgéal ó Lúndain fadó go raibh na Gaedhil ag imtheacht. Má bhíodar ag imtheacht, bhíodar ag imtheacht ar son na hÉireann, agus is dóigh liom go raibh an file ag cuimhneamh air sin nuair a sgríobh sé
" Óró sé do bheatha abhaile,
" Anois ar theacht an tSamhraidh. "
Tá an Samhradh ag teacht anois agus measaim gur cóir dúinn Teachtaireacht mar sin do chur amach.
A Chinn Chomhairle, éirighim chun cabhrugha leis an dtairiscint seo agus tá súil agam go gcuirfear i bhfeidhm é. Is ceart dúinne anso, Teachtaí Phárliméid na hÉireann, an Teachtaireacht so do chur chun ár gcáirde thar lear, agus a rádh go bhfuilimíd buidheach díobh mar gheall ar a bhfuil déanta acu. Is eól dúinn, agus is eól don tsaoghal, an méid airgid a chuireadar anso i gcóir cúis na hÉireann agus is eol dúinn leis cionnus mar a chuireadar stop leis na bréagadóirí Gallda nuair a dheineadar iarracht ar dhallaphúicín do chur ar an saoghal faoi sgéal na hÉireann. Theip ar na bréagadóirí, agus dob éigin dóibh admháil le déanaidhe nach féidir cosg do chur le cúis na hÉireann. Leanfaidh na Gaeidhil thar lear ag cuidiugha linn go dtí go mbeidh cúis na hÉireann socair, agus ar an adhbhar san is ceart dúinn an Teachtaireacht so do chur amach chúcha, agus ba cheart dúinn leis a rádh leó go bhfuil breis cabhrach uainn chun Éire do shaoradh ó smacht na Sasanach.
A Chinn Chomhairle agus a lucht na Dála, This is a solemn and joyous occasion, and I regret not being qualified to address you in our native language. It is, I repeat, at once, a joyous and solemn thing to send forth this greeting to our kindred beyond the seas. We do honour to ourselves as well as to our kindred. If at any time in the past our kindred abroad had misunderstood us it was because those who spoke in the name of Ireland did not utter the true note. Had we met in this City and in this Hall to send forth a lower note, to demand "Home Rule," or some amelioration of bondage; had we sent forth a greeting in that tone, we might have deserved, and we would have received the scorn of our kindred abroad. It is because we aim high that our race, wherever scattered, understand us perfectly—we, the children of a foregathered race which has acted highly, which distinguished itself in Europe for a long period before any of the older nations now being revived were heard of; before their people had entered Europe at all; long centuries before any of the new states now being set up were heard of. This motion enables one, I believe, to call attention to certain requirements of the moment. From all we hear in this country we have had means of estimating the magnitude of the power of evil arrayed against us to-day in Paris. We have to realise the magnitude of that power, the wide reach of its efforts, the stupendous resources at its disposal in misrepresenting and slandering us before the world to-day. We have to realise the magnitude of the powers opposed to us there in order that we may realise to some extent at least what our duty is whenever there is an opportunity of advancing President Wilson's principles before the nations of the world. We owe a debt to our kindred in America, as has been said, but also to our kindred in Canada, South Africa, and, I would say, almost above all, to our kindred in Australia who were among the first to come to our succour during the weeks and months in which so many at home and abroad were stunned by Maxwellism in this city.
To that branch of our race we owe a special debt of gratitude, and we owe it to ourselves, to the circumstances and the cause we are here promoting, and not only that, but to the cause of human liberty in general to present the case of Ireland on this memorable occasion in a manner worthy of our antiquity, worthy of our record, worthy of our unquenchable spirit, our dignity, and our fidelity to our cause.
There are resources which the enemy is to-day employing to the detriment of our nation. Our duty to-day is to see that our representatives in Paris are sustained and that their hands are strengthened.
Some of the young nations are sending strong staffs to flood foreign countries with their propagandist literature and present every aspect of their case in regard to freedom. The sooner Ireland's case is put in a similar way the better. It is a task which may well frighten us in view of the almost inexhaustible resources by which the enemy opposes us.
We have excellent representatives in Paris. They are not, however, in a position of equality with those opposed to them, and it is the duty—the urgent and important duty—for them to get on a position of equality with those with whom they have to contend. The reconstruction of States, the revision of old States, and the foundation of new ones deserve that our representatives have full equality in the struggle for the right and justice of the noblest State of them all.
In the struggle for right, none of these States have undergone anything equal to Ireland in the intensity of the persecutions they have suffered; none of them have borne with such atrocities by an outside power nor have been slandered in the same degree. But, in the reconstruction of Europe, when Empires are being overtaken by the justice of God and show signs of their falling asunder, there is afforded a great opportunity which is not going to recur and of which this Dáil is going to avail to the utmost and at once. Our policy is, first, a self-reliant dash for freedom, and it is going to be one of the utmost speed consistent with efficiency and permanency. We will choose our own time and our own methods to embarrass the enemy before the nations. While the enemy is issuing false statements regarding us we must in justice to ourselves circulate the truth with regard to our position and with regard to the atrocities perpetrated in this land of ours, and challenge our opponents and challenge the free opinion of Europe to test our assertions. We are cruelly handicapped by the vigilant censorship of the Press carried on by our enemy. To take a single example. In yesterday's daily papers you will find on one page the statement of an English Cabinet Minister that there is no other way to rule this country but by force. On the same paper you will find that white gloves have been presented to the Judges on the Bench, there being no crime to bring before them. This is a significant fact. It is a fact to be put before President Wilson as showing how the people of the most peaceful country in Europe cannot be governed by England because it is peaceful. It is a declaration before the world by an English Judge on the Pench that Ireland is a crimeless land and yet they are unable to govern it. Yes; unable they will ever be to humble us.
What we ask and what we need the support of our kindred in claiming is justice to ourselves and justice to all oppressed peoples. We want nothing more or less than liberty, the right to rule ourselves.
It would be a negation of principle and of justice if a crimeless nation like ours is not entitled to the independence now being conferred on smaller and less important nations. Any statesman in Paris or elsewhere with the experience of our nation under foreign rule before him who imagines that Irealnd can or ought to rest in peaceful acquiescence in that rule, is an enemy of peace and justice and a curse to himself and others. The spirit that glows in Ireland to-day is due to the knowledge that we have not the smallest intention of making an unworthy claim or submitting to less than justice.
We are no new people, but heirs of a nation long and glorious in Ireland; and it is because we aim at the recovery of our independence in circumstances very different from those of the past, when our country was made a thing of traffic by the enemy; it is because we aim at refusing to barter the right of our race to live in peace and harmony with neighbouring States that we are filled with a firm purpose and that our kindred are with us to-day heart and soul; and it is because our claim is in every respect—morally, intellectually, logically—so strong that we have cut the painter with the foe and from this time onward we shall treat this land as ours and nobody else's; and the people of this country are going to support this Dáil in this attitude, whatever may be done at the peace conference.
I have no reason to speak of President Wilson and the nation he represents with any doubt or disrespect, But if we come through this crisis it will be by the strength and determination of our purpose.
(Pembroke) - A Chinn Chomhairle agus a lucht na Dála, ba mhaith liom a rádh go bhfuilim ar thaobh an Teachtaireacht so do chur amach. Na Gaedhil a bhí i dtíorthaibh thar lear cé ná raibh mórán eolais acu i dtaoibh na hÉireann acht an t-eolas a fuaireadar ins na páipéirí bhíodar ullamh i gcomhnuidhe ar airgead do thabhairt uatha ar son cúis na hÉireann. Má chaill Éire a clann féin, agus má táid sgaipighthe uaithe anois, is féidir leo bheith cáirdeamhail linne, agus seirbhís do thabhairt d'Éirinn.
(Meadhon Chorcaighe). - A Chinn Chomhairle agus a Uaisle, is maith liom cuidiugha leis an dtairiscint seo os ár gcómhair, agus a rádh go bhfuilimíd buidheach dár gcáirde, go bhfuil buidheachas agus moladh ag dul dóibh de bharr a saothair, agus do Sheán T. Ó Ceallaigh acht go háirighthe de bharr a chuid oibre móire sa bhFrainnc. Go neartuighidh Dia leis agus go moltar é imeasc Clanna Gaedheal.
- A Chinn Chomairle , cuidighim leis an rún so.
I would like to associate myself with this message because we all feel how a great number of our kindred left Ireland more or less like "a corpse on the dissecting table," and we can realise how they felt when they saw Ireland standing erect and wishing to take her own place with the other States of the world. By the deliberate act of the Irish people the Dáil is in being. We are assembled here speaking on behalf of the Irish people; we send them a message of hope; we tell them we mean to abide by the principles that henceforth are going to be the rule of nations. We know that the suspense of our kindred in foreign countries has been a great suspense so far, and that it will please them to know that we are continuing the fight until we have realized the object for which we have set out.
I have to bring before the meeting of the Dáil a telegram from a very unexpected source. It is from Sydney, and it is addressed to Mr. De Valera. "The following resolution was proposed by Corporal Kenny, V.C., and seconded by Private Leary. V.C., and carried unanimously:—‘That this meeting of citizens, representative of Irish-Australian sentiment in New South Wales, express the strongest desire to have the principle of self-determination applied to Ireland.'" That cable is signed by Archbishop Kelly.
Now, the message which it is proposed to address to the Irish abroad must be received with more than mere approval by the Ministry. It is our business to keep in touch with the scattered Irish people wherever they are: and it is hard to discover the country in which they are not. I travelled about ten thousand miles in the United States of America, and everywhere I went, from New York to San Francisco, from Boston to the far South, when I met the Irish their first and last question to me always was: "Is it the Time?" To-day we say to our own people scattered over all the world, "It is the Time." The hour has come when Ireland, no matter what the consequences may be, stands out in the firing line. She declares that she will not fall from the high place that God created her for, that she claims nothing less and will accept nothing less than complete liberty. And this meeting now calls on us to affirm this, in the name of the Irish people.
Now, I have said that the Irish were everywhere; and there was a time when they flung themselves right across the earth. In the early ages they went forth in the name of God, because they believed that God called upon them to Christianise a pagan world; but afterwards they were flung out under conditions which are horrible to read. There is no ancient history in Ireland; we feel to-day the pangs our fathers felt when they read of Ireland's ruthless treatment, of the fate of her children who became the exiles of the world. How did this happen? It is to Ireland's honour that she has always suffered for her ideals. And the Irish, whatever their sufferings, always went out in the cause of civilisation. However stricken they might be, they put their words and their swords at the disposal of other nations, for liberty's sake; and always in the hope that eventually their efforts would lead to the emancipation of Ireland herself.
There is no fear for the future of Ireland, but our guarantee is not in the fact that the world recognises her power but that Ireland herself recognises it. This is the message that in your name we are giving to the Irish race scattered over the world.
We do not merely say that we approve of the idea that Ireland shall be free. We say we are determined that Ireland shall be free. We know that many conferences are being held, even in the name of liberty, to try to restore an older system of tyranny in Ireland. These plots against the light cannot succeed. We have learned enough to be able to say that if the League of Nations is going to be nothing better than the old League of Powers formed in Vienna and called the "Holy Alliance," there will be a league of peoples to break it. In the long run the human race will realise that these evil things must be ended. And it were strange if Ireland did not become again a torch-bearer when reactionary statesmen tried to befog and enslave the world.
In the beginning of the war England tried to thrust the whole of Ireland into the fighting line. She felt that the demand of the Irish people for independence was becoming embarrassing, and she concluded that an Ireland without defenders could never strike back. Then she considered that the right thing for her to do was to declare Ireland, in face of the world, a contented country. When this fiction was overturned by the facts of repression and resistance, a new campaign against us was ordered.
I have been the recipient of a sheaf of papers from American in which every fact in regard to the history of Ireland was perverted and in which the character of the Irish people was generally maligned. England secured in the United States a large number of agencies, by purchase, for the purpose of defaming Ireland. Now those plans are coming to an end; the nations are becoming tired of this political pharisaism, and there is a slight relaxation of England's activity in misrepresenting Ireland. She has carried out her campaign of vilification in Paris, but the French have not forgotten history altogether. Her powers in America seem to be ripe for judgment, since many of the papers that began by attacking us have come round and backed our cause. We owe our comparative success to the instinctive decency of human kind, and to the relentless war carried on against evil by our people in the States.
For a while after America went into the war there was very little liberty there. The Irish citizen suffered for his political faith in the beginning; but now that the tide is turning, the importance of having the greater portion of America in favour of Irish liberty is being felt throughout the world. In Paris, with the Peace Conference already in session, and the League of Nations being set up, it was necessary for us to have an agency to speak for Ireland to the assembled delegates. Seán T. O Ceallaigh was sent out, and he has gathered around him a little group of men, authorised to put the case of Ireland not merely to France, but to all the other countries concerned for peace with liberty. Of the work to be done in this connection, and the obstacles to be faced, the ordinary newspaper reader can form no idea. However, we have won a footing in Paris, and Ireland is beginning to be heard in the world. It is our own business to see that the work so begun will be brought to complete fruition. For this we need an organisation in the Press, and outside the Press, that will secure our ends. We are only at the beginning of the fight. We shall have to fight on by our present means, and other means, combining with our friends in America. I do not say we should rely on extraneous aid alone. I believe firmly that such aid will be forthcoming. But Ireland is our battle field, and now that we have won a moral victory in Ireland we must carry on a systematic war against the enemy, not in the field the enemy selects, but where we choose; not by exposing ourselves to danger, but by exposing the enemy to danger; not by flinging small armed numbers against England's massed strength, but by getting the whole Irish race to enter the field as an army determined to achieve the freedom of Ireland.
