Now, these Resolutions passed in Committee are reported to the Dáil. I take it the President will move that they be agreed to.
DAIL IN COMMITTEE. - DAIL RESUMES.
I move: "That the Dáil doth agree with the Committee in the said Resolutions."
I beg to second.
I just want to say on this motion that the fact that there is so large a sum required now to be voted will be used, I have no doubt, as an indication that the attack upon the State is effective, and that it will, if continued sufficiently vigorously, bring the State into ineffectiveness. I think that it is as well to say now that the people of Saorstát Eireann will, I am convinced, as soon as they realise that the attack upon the economic life of the country, the attack upon the communications of the country, the attack upon the general material structure, is designed to bring about a chaotic condition of affairs and political ineptitude—as soon as they realise that, they will do now as they were prepared to do two years ago, throw in every particle and every item of their economic, industrial and material resources to save the State. I believe it is true to say that a large section of those who are inspiring the Irregular campaign hold that by a sufficient attack upon the material resources the State cannot maintain itself. Yesterday and to-day we touched upon the Bill in favour of building a memorial to Arthur Griffith. I want to say in respect of that that my sharpest and pleasantest memory of Arthur Griffith is that on one occasion, when everything was black, and there was a likelihood of an absolute smash of the railway system in this country, and when proposals were put to him, having in view that in every area in the country there should be set up a small local governmental institution which would take control of the economic resources of that area and invite all those living in that area to throw in all their resources into a common pool to maintain the stability of the State as they knew it, that he was lavish in his approval of such a proposal and encouraged the idea to the fullest extent. That, I believe, will be repeated by the people of the State if they became possessed of the thought that the present attack is, in reality, an attack upon the social fabric itself. I am moved to make these remarks because I think that sufficient attention has not been paid, sufficient understanding has not been given to the contentions of one of the leaders of the party in opposition to this State, when she threatened, or when she advocated and justified her advocacy by saying that the people will have to put up with duress to make them stay out; that as an immoral duress was imposed upon them which they accepted, a counter duress would have to be applied to make them stay out. I believe the more thoughtful of the followers of that lady, while they may have, or pretend to have, a certain contempt for the mass of the people for accepting the Treaty, would have infinitely more contempt for the same people if they were prepared to abide by the duress imposed by a section of the people within the State. I think it well to say that in the opinion of the Dáil, in the opinion of those of us on those benches, at any rate, and, I am sure, in the opinion of the Dáil as a whole, the attempt to break up the social fabric, once it is seized upon by the people, will mean that, at any cost and at any sacrifice, the country will rally to the defence of the State. It is, as a matter of fact, because there is not that understanding, not that realisation that the present attack is more than a political move; that it is not realised that the attack is an attack upon the social fabric, the very idea behind society, that the present conditions have prevailed. I think it well to send it out from the Dáil that despite any increase in Estimates that may be called for, even though it is an increase multiplied one hundred times, even though the private resources of the people are going to be brought to nothing, still for the sake of maintaining society in this country the opposition to society must be resisted and overthrown.
I should like to say that I appreciate very greatly indeed the speech that has just fallen from the lips of the leader of the Opposition, if we might so call Deputy Johnson. This is an occasion upon which a statement of that sort, coming from a man occupying the position he does, a position of great trust and of great confidence in the minds of all those of the Labour movement that he represents, is something that is really needed. We realise that during the last few years the people whom he represents contributed in a very marked and very patriotic degree to the continuance of the struggle which was maintained here in order that the people of this country might live and see what we have witnessed here for the last twelve or thirteen months, that is, the freedom and the liberty and the exercise of independence that we have got. There has not been since this Dáil met, I think, any time whatever wasted in political harangues or political speeches. The Dáil, to its credit, has got down to business and has done its business, giving a generous and a cordial consideration to every section that composes it. In that connection I think this assembly deserved to be ranked with some of the best assemblies that ever met in this country during its whole history. During the last 4, 5 or 6 years that the struggle has gone on in this country the mainstay of the opposition to oppression has been that that oppression was of a character that was unchristian, and was immoral. We held, and held rightly, that foreign oppression in this country had got to be stopped, and we held that every law that was passed in order to strengthen it, and every new ordinance that was passed, and every new act of a coercive nature to cripple or interfere with the liberty of our people, was something that it was the duty of every man who had any civic courage to withstand. During that period every section of the people of this country, even those who in the ordinary way would send here men like Deputy Fitzgibbon, Deputy Alton, Deputy Thrift, and Deputy Sir James Craig, came with us in that contest because they would not stand for any of the immoral acts that were being perpetrated in the name of civilisation by those who were restricting our liberties and interfering with our manner of discharging our duties to the public. During that period we had to withstand, as I explained here during the week, attempts to seize money which was to provide water for the citizens of this country, to cleanse sewers, to clean the streets, and maintain the public health services. And what do we find now? That those who are posturing as Republicans are breaking up waterworks, are interfering with railways, and doing these things in a far worse manner, and to a far greater extent, than ever those who came here to oppress this country did. It is wise, and it is good, that at this moment Deputy Johnson should raise this question here and exhort the people of the country to put their hearts into the struggle to crush these vampires who are at present endeavouring to suck the life-blood of this nation. Every effort we have made to meet these men, every step that we took to meet them, has been one they plotted we should make, and that they should turn to their advantage. Day after day we read in captured correspondence from them indications that it is impossible to plumb the depths of infamy to which they have sunk. In one page you will read, from a lady: "It is a pity our boys were not there to blow them to hell," and in the next page you will read a prayer. That is the sort of mentality of people who have been driven mad by their pride and by their political nonsense. Those who are posturing as Republicans are now tied to the tails of a few old women, who say to them, as the savages tell their young men: "Blood your spears; that is the way to show your patriotism." For five or six years the Continent of Europe rocked with armed men, and every nation spent its treasure and spent its blood to maintain its position in the world. We are just faced with the same position here, and we are prepared to spend every copper in our Treasury, to mortgage ourselves up to the hilt, and to spill the best blood of our country in order to stamp out this, the worst sort of oppression that was ever attempted in any country. I believe we have the people of the country behind us, and it is for us, as the Government of the people, to carry it out. We, on behalf of the Government, are willing to do it, and we welcome the statement of Deputy Johnson, who was speaking for his party. He has drawn the people's attention to the fact that this is not a war of politics, but a war to maintain the right of common society to its own position in the nation.
Question: "That the Dáil doth agree with the Committee in the said resolutions," put and agreed to.
The Dáil adjourned at 7 p.m. until Tuesday, the 20th March.