men are seeking as they have never sought before, to insure a peace that will prevent and destroy war.

HOPES BASED ON PEACE CONFERENCE VANISH LIKE A DREAM.

Mankind lived in the hope that the peace conference was to be a setting for the ending of all wars. Peoples were to be taken from the thraldom of their aggressors, natural boundaries were to be established between States, armaments were to be destroyed, cannon were to be made into plowshares, and the fourteen points of President Wilson were to be made the basis of an enduring peace.

The peace conference has practically adjournd and all the hopes that were based upon it are passing into oblivion like the illusions of dreams. But the mass of mankind is more than ever insistent that there must be an end to human destruction and to the awful butchery and suffering that modern war spells for humanity. It has been driven into their minds that only by freedom to the oppressed of all nations can peace come, putting an end to the rule of the few and by bringing about government by the many, bringing at once liberty to man and an end to all war.

There may be for a short time a brief respite for those who remain in power, though they have deceived the people who have seen promises solemnly made, lightly broken. But no just or permanent peace can be made until the purposes to which the American people set their hands when they entered the war have been attained, until autocracy in all its forms has been destroyed, until not alone the militarism that was breaking the back of Europe but the navalism which is oppressing and controlling the whole world shall be destroyed and the right of self-determination shall be given, not alone to some, but to all the peoples of the earth.

A COURT OF NATIONS.

A court of nations will come in its own due time that will embrace all the people of the earth, that will see to it that all peoples are free, and that will see to it that the World War will actually bring a permanent peace. Such a court will exalt justice and will destroy tyranny, but it will be a real court, open to all peoples, and not an unreal league which is only another name for an Anglo-American alliance, a Cecil-Smus plan to exalt autocracy and enslave mankind.

Every red-blooded man favors such a court of nations as he favors the brotherhood of man and the counsel of perfection, but the more intensely he favors such an ideal the more he objects to and abhors the hypocrisy which would steal the ideal in order to cover a treaty of alliance that would fasten the robber grip of England on all the world.

THE GUARANTIES OF IRELAND.

Having set forth the claims of Ireland to independence, her demand and her right to be free; having exposed the hypocrisy of England in her varied attempts to confuse the issue, having torn away the mask behind which England hoped to securely hide from the gaze of the world, let us see what Ireland offers to the world as an evidence of her good faith.

The people of Ireland seek for themselves a form of government which would do justice to all the people within the four shores of Ireland. They seek to set up a government representing equality to all, injustice to none. They demand and will insist upon political equality and religious freedom for all the people of Ireland.

They insist that the majority must rule, but that the rights of political equality and religious freedom shall be given to all members of the minority as well as of the majority.

The people of Ireland believe that the minority is entitled to guaranties, but not to control. They are ready to embody a guaranty of these rights in their constitution, as they have been embodied in the Constitution of the United States.

They are ready to adopt these things which made for success in America and to avoid those things which were found to be mistakes or errors.

CONTRASTS IRELAND AND AMERICA.

As a result of the Revolution in America estates were confiscated and men were exiled. The people of Ireland, however, are ready to say to the small group in Ulster who say they can not remain as an integral part of the Irish people that they would part with them with regret, but will guarantee to them, if they choose to sell, the full market value of all property which they own in Ireland.

The people of Ireland ask every man of whatever blood, or whatever religion, who is now in Ireland to remain in Ireland on terms which will insure absolute equality for all. They point out that there is no instance in its history of religious persecution or racial intolerance due to the majority of the people of Ireland; that wherever there has been persecution it has been by the minority, urged on against the majority by the English Government.

The people of Ireland point out that in every section of the country, in every generation, Protestants of different sect or religious persuasions have been put forward as leaders by a majority of the Irish people, called to the highest elective office within the gift of the majority of the people. They urge that no fairer way of judging the future can be found than that furnished by the experiences of the past.

They are willing at all times to accord to others the rights which they insist upon for themselves. They demand, without further delay, that their present rights shall be recognized by the world and that international recognition shall be given to the republican form of government established in Ireland after a plebiscite held on her shores last December, in the presence of the great English army of occupation and under conditions which held the machinery of government at that time in the hands of Great Britain.

All that any friend of Ireland asks of America is that present conditions in Ireland be studied fairly and dispassionately. In no other part of the world can there be found a parallel to the manner in which the population of Ireland has been reduced by the English Government within the past 70 years. Why should England that cried out with such strength against injustice in Belgium, be permitted to maintain and continue her rule of might in Ireland? Even her apologists admit that England's rule in Ireland is based only upon her bayonets and cannon.

How can England satisfy the conscience of the world with her explanation that what is wrong in Belgium and in Alsace is right in Ireland? She says

that the people of Ireland should not cry out for liberty because, forsooth, they are to-day enjoying a larger measure of prosperity than they formerly had. Why should they not have it? Is it not the result only of their own thrift, their own industry, their own labors?

The apologists of England say that Ireland did an immense business with that country last year-that this is a sufficient answer to Ireland's cry that she is badly governed! How typical was Clive of the English Government of all times when he said, after he had been accused of robbing India of immense treasure, that when he saw the wealth of the country he was astonished at his own moderation! England's statesmen feel that it is right to steal Irish sheep so long as they return a chop to the Irish owner.

The proposition is an insult to the intelligence and conscience of the world and in spite of the marvelous system of propaganda which the English diplomat has built up, he can not prevent the cry of Ireland for freedom from resounding in all parts of the world and coming back to plague him until it is satisfied by having justice done to Ireland.

The English governing class are the Bourbons of modern days. They learn nothing, forget nothing. Let them beware lest the aroused public opinion of mankind shall sweep them as it swept their German and Russian cousins into oblivion and break into bits the British Empire, which is the last bulwark of autocracy against the onrushing tide of liberty and democracy.

Judge Daniel F. Cohalan, following the conclusion of his oral argument, by permission of the committee was authorized to have incorporated as a part of the testimony presented the following:

IRELAND'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND OTHER OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING LETTERS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE AND THE GENERAL MEMORANDUM SUBMITTED IN SUPPORT OF IRELAND'S CLAIM FOR RECOGNITION AS A SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENT STATE.

IRELAND'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE-PROCLAIMED BY DAIL EIREANN, JANUARY 21, 1919. [Translation.]

Whereas the Irish people is by right a free people;

And whereas for 700 years the Irish people has never ceased to repudiate and has repeatedly protested in arms against foreign usurpation;

And whereas English rule in this country is, and always has been, based upon force and fraud and maintained by military occupation against the declared will of the people;

And whereas the Irish republic was proclaimed in Dublin on Easter Monday, 1916, by the Irish republican army, acting on behalf of the Irish people;

And whereas the Irish people is resolved to secure and maintain its complete independence in order to promote the common weal, to reestablish justice, to provide for future defense, to insure peace at home and good will with all nations, and to constitute a national policy based upon the people's will, with equal right and equal opportunity for every citizen;

And whereas at the threshold of a new era in history the Irish electorate has in the general election of December, 1918, seized the first occasion to declare by an overwhelming majority its firm allegiance to the Irish republic;

Now, therefore, we, the elected representatives of the ancient Irish people, in national parliament assembled, do, in the name of the Irish nation, ratify the establishment of the Irish republic, and pledge ourselves and our people to make this declaration effective by every means at our command.

To ordain that the elected representatives of the Irish people alone have power to make laws binding on the people of Ireland, and that the Irish parliament is the only parliament to which that people will give its allegiance.

We solemnly declare foreign government in Ireland to be an invasion of our national right, which we will never tolerate, and we demand the evacuation of our country by the English garrison;

We claim for our national independence the recognition and support of every free nation of the world, and we proclaim that independence to be a condition precedent to international peace hereafter;

In the name of the Irish people we humbly commit our destiny to Almighty God, who gave our fathers the courage and determination to persevere through centuries of a ruthless tyranny, and strong in the justice of the cause which they have handed down to us, we ask His divine blessing on this, the last stage of the struggle which we have pledged ourselves to carry through to freedom.

IRELAND'S MESSAGE TO THE NATIONS.

[Translation.]

To the nations of the world, greeting:

The nation of Ireland, having proclaimed her national independence, calls, through her elected representatives in parliament assembled in the Irish capital on January 21, 1919, upon every free nation to support the Irish republic by recognizing Ireland's national status and her right to its vindication by the peace congress.

Nationally, the race, the language, the customs, and traditions of Ireland are radically distinct from the English. Ireland is one of the most ancient nations of Europe, and she has preserved her national integrity vigorous and intact through seven centuries of foreign oppression; she has never relinquished her national rights, and throughout the long era of English usurpation she has in every generation defiantly proclaimed her inalienable right of nationhood down to her last glorious resort to arms in 1916.

Internationally, Ireland is the gateway to the Atlantic. Ireland is the last outpost of Europe toward the west; Ireland is the point upon which great trade routes between east and west converge; her independence is demanded by the freedom of the seas; her great harbors must be open to all nations, instead of being the monopoly of England. To-day these harbors are empty and idle solely because English policy is determined to retain Ireland as a

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barren bulwark for English aggrandizement, and the unique geographical position of this island, far from being a benefit and safeguard to Europe and America, is subjected to the purposes of England's policy of world dominion.

Ireland to-day reasserts her historic nationhood the more confidently before the new world emerging from the war, because she believes in freedom and justice as the fundamental principles of international law; because she believes in a frank cooperation between the peoples for equal rights against the vested privileges of ancient tyrannies, because the permanent peace of Europe can never be secured by perpetuating military dominion for the profit of empire, but only by establishing the control of government in every land upon the basis of the free will of a free people, and the existing state of war between Ireland and England can never be ended until Ireland is definitely evacuated by the armed forces of England.

For these, among other reasons, Ireland-resolutely and irrevocably determined at the dawn of the promised era of self-determination and liberty, that she will suffer foreign dominion no longer calls upon every free nation to uphold her national claim to complete independence as an Irish republic against the arrogant pretensions of England founded in fraud and sustained only by an overwhelming military occupation, and demands to be confronted publicly with England at the congress of nations, that the civilized world having judged between English wrong and Irish right may guarantee to Ireland its permanent support for the maintenance of her national independence.

IRELAND'S DEMOCRATIC PROGRAM-PROCLAIMED BY DAIL EIREANN.

[Translation.]

We declare in the words of the Irish Republican Proclamation the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies to be indefeasible, and in the language of our first president, Padraic Pearse, we declare that the nation's sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the nation, but to all its material possessions; the nation's soil and all its resources, all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the nation; and with him we reaffirm that all rights to private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare.

We declare that we desire our country to be ruled in accordance with the principles of liberty, equality, and justice for all, which alone can secure permanence of government in the willing adhesion of the people.

We affirm the duty of every man and woman to give allegiance and service to the commonwealth, and declare it is the duty of the nation to assure that every citizen shall have opportunity to spend his or her strength and faculies in the service of the people. In return for willing service, we, in the name of the republic, declare the right of every citizen to an adequate share of the produce of the nation's labor.

It shall be the first duty of the government of the republic to make provision for the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of the children, to secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food or clothing or shelter, but that all shall be provided with the means and facilities requisite for their proper education and training as citizens of a free and Gaelic Ireland. The Irish republic fully realizes the necessity of abolishing the present odious, degrading, and foreign poor-law system, substituting therefor a sympathetic native scheme for the care of the nation's aged and infirm, who shall no longer be regarded as a burden, but rather entitled to the nation's gratitude and consideration. Likewise it shall be the duty of the republic to take measures that will safeguard the health of the people and insure the physical as well as the moral well-being of the nation.

It shall be our duty to promote the development of the nation's resources, to increase the productivity of the soil, to exploit its mineral deposis, peat bogs, and fisheries, its waterways and harbors, in the interest and for the benefit of the Irish people.

It shall be the duty of the republic to adopt all measures necessary for the re-creation and invigoration of our industries, and to insure their being developed on the most beneficial and progressive cooperative industrial lines. With the adoption of an extensive Irish consular service, trade with foreign nations shall be revived on terms of mutual advantage and good will; while undertaking the organization of the nation's trade, import and export, it shall be the duty of the republic to prevent the shipment from Ireland of food and other necessaries until the wants of the Irish people are fully satisfied and the future provided for.

It shall devolve upon the national government to seek the cooperation of the governments of other countries in determining a standard of social and industrial legislation with a view to a general and lasting improvement in the conditions under which the working classes live and labor.

LETTER FROM THE IRISH DELEGATES APPOINTED BY DAIL EIREANN TO PRESENT IRELAND'S CASE.

Monsieur CLEMENCEAU,

MANSION HOUSE, DUBLIN, May 17, 1919.

President of the Peace Conference, Paris.

SIR: The treaties now under discussion by the conference of Paris will, presumably, be signed by the British plenipotentiaries claiming to act on behalf of Ireland as well as Great Britain.

Therefore we ask you to call the immediate attention of the peace conference to the warning which it is our duty to communicate, that the people of Ireland, through all its organic means of declaration, has repudiated and does now repudiate the claim of the British Government to speak or act on behalf of Ireland, and consequently no treaty or agreement entered into by the representatives of the British Government in virtue of that claim is or can be binding on the people of Ireland.

The Irish people will scrupulously observe any treaty obligation to which they are legitimately committed; but the British delegates can not commit Ireland. The only signatures by which the Irish nation will be bound are those of its own delegates, deliberately chosen.

We request you to notify the peace conference that we, the undersigned, have been appointed and authorized by the duly elected Government of Ireland to act on behalf of Ireland in the proceedings of the conference and to enter into agreements and sign treaties on behalf of Ireland. Accept, sir, the assurance of our great esteem.

EAMON DE VALERA,

ARTHUR GRIFFITH,

GEORGE NOBLE COUNT PLUNKETT.

LETTER FROM THE IRISH DELEGATES APPOINTED BY DAIL EIREANN TO PRESENT IRELAND'S CASE.

Monsieur GEORGES CLEMENCEAU,

MANSION HOUSE, DUBLIN, May 26, 1919.

President of the Peace Conference, Paris.

SIR: On May 17 we forwarded to you a note requesting you to warn the conference that the Irish people will not be bound by the signatures of English or British delegates to the conference, inasmuch as these delegates do not represent Ireland.

We now further request that you will provide an opportunity for the consideration by the conference of Ireland's claim to be recognized as an independent sovereign state.

We send you herewith a general memorandum on the case and beg to direct your attention in particular to the following:

(1) That the rule of Ireland by England has been and is now intolerable; that it is contrary to all conceptions of liberty and justice, and as such, on the ground of humanity alone, should be ended by the conference.

(2) That the declared object of the conference is to establish a lasting peace which is admittedly impossible if the legitimate claims of self-determination of nations such as Ireland be denied.

(3) That incorporated with the peace treaty under consideration as a covenant establishing a league of nations intended amongst other things to confirm and perpetuate the political relationships and conditions established by the treaty. It is clear that it is radically unjust to seek to confirm and perpetuate what is essentially wrong and that it is indefensible to refuse an examination of title when a confirmation of possession is intended such as that provided by the draft covenant of the League of Nations.

Ireland definitely denies that England or Britain can show any just claim or title to hold or possess Ireland and demands an opportunity for her representatives to appear before the conference to refute any such claim.