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 parlia-. ment 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

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 sympa-' thetic 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.

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We feel that these facts are sufficient basis to merit for our requests the consideration which we are sure you, sir, will give them.

Please accept, Mr. President, the assurance of our great esteem.

EAMON DE VALERA,

ARTHUR GRIFFITH,

GEORGE NOBLE COUNT PLUNKETT.

LETTER EROM THE IRISH DELEGATES APPOINTED BY DAIL ERREANN TO PRESENT IRELAND'S CASE.

To the CHAIRMAN,

MANSION HOUSE, DUBLIN, May 26, 1919.

Council of League of Nations, Paris.

SIR: The Irish people share the view that a lasting peace can only be secured by a world league of nations pledged, when a clash of interests occurs, to use methods of conciliation and arbitration instead of those of force. They are consequently desirous that their nation should be included as a constituent member of such a league.

Therefore, we, the delegates of the nation, chosen and duly authorized for the purpose by the elected National Government of Ireland, desire to intimate through you that we are ready to take part in any conversations and discussions which may be necessary in order that the foundations of the league may be properly laid, and we ask the commission to provide us with an opportunity for doing so.

Apart from the general grounds of right, the Irish nation has a special and peculiar interest in the league at present proposed.

In the form in which the covenant is now drawn up it threatens to confirm Ireland in the slavery against which she has persistently struggled since the English first invaded her shores, and to pledge the rest of the civilized world, which has hitherto done us no wrong, to discountenance in future our just endeavors to free ourselves from the régime of implacable and brutal oppression under which we have suffered so long.

Ireland is a distinct and separate nation with individual inalienable rights which any league of nations founded on justice is bound to recognize. Accept, sir, the assurance of our great esteem.

EAMON DE VALERA,
ARTHUR GRIFFITH,

GEORGE NOBLE COUNT PLUNKETT.

O'KELLY'S LETTER NO. 1 TO PREMIER CLEMENCEAU AND ALL THE PEACE CONFERENCE DELEGATES.

PARIS, February 22, 1919.

SIR: As the accredited envoy of the provisional government of the Irish republic, I have the honor to bring to your notice the claim of my government, in the name of the Irish nation, for the international recognition of the independence of Ireland, and for the admission of Ireland as a constituent member of the league of nations.

The Irish people seized the opportunity of the general election of December, 1918, to declare unmistakably its national will; only in 26 (out of 105) constituencies of the country was England able to find enough "loyalists" to return members favorable to the union between Ireland and Great Britain; for the remaining 79 seats the electors chose as members men who believed in self-determination; of these, 73 who now represent an immense majority of the people went forward as republican candidates, and each of these republican members has pledged himself to assert by every means in his power the right of Ireland to the complete independence which she demands, under a national republican government, free from all English interferences.

On the 21st of January, 1919, those of the republican members whom England had not yet cast into her prisons met in the Irish capital in a national assembly, to which, as the only Irish parliament de jure, they had summoned all Irish members of parliament; on the same day the national assembly unanimously voted the declaration of independence appended hereto and unanimously issued the message to the free nations, likewise appended.

The national assembly has also caused a detailed statement of the case of Ireland to be drawn up; that statement will demonstrate that the right of Ireland to be considered a nation admits of no denial, and, moreover, that that right is inferior in no respect to that of the new States constituted in Europe and recognized since the war; three members, Eamon de Valera, Mr. Arthur Griffith, and Count Plunkett, have been delegated by the national assembly to present the statement to the peace congress and to the league of nations commission in the name of the Irish people.

Accordingly, I have the honor, sir, to beg you to be good enough to fix a date to receive the delegates above named, who are anxious for the earliest possible opportunity to establish formally and definitely before the peace conference and the league of nations commission now assembled in Paris Ireland's indisputable right to international recognition for her independence and the propriety of her claim to enter the league of nations as one of its constituent members. I have the honor to be, sir, Your obedient servant,

SEAN T. O'KELLY,

Delegate of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic

O'KELLY'S LETTER-NO. 2.

PARIS, March 31, 1919.

To Premier Clemenceau and all the peace conference delegates. SIR: On behalf of the Irish nation, whose accredited representative I am, I beg to draw your attention, and through you the attention of the peace conference, to the following statement with regard to Ireland:

Ireland is a nation which has exercised the right of self-determination in harmony with the principles formulated by President Wilson and accepted by the belligerents as the only sure foundation for a world peace. It is not only in the past that Ireland, generation after generation, has striven by force of arms as well as by all pacific means to regain her national freedom. At the general election last December the issue, and the only issue, placed before the Irish people was the independence of their country, and by a majority of more than three to one the representatives elected by the constitutional machinery of the ballot box are pledged to the abolition of English rule in Ireland. In none of the small nationalities with which the peace conference has hitherto occupied itself is the unanimity of the people so great; in none has the national desire for freedom been so great; in none has the desire for freedom been asserted so unmistakably and with so much emphasis. Following upon the general election, an Irish National Assembly has met; an Irish Republic has been constituted and proclaimed to the world; a President has been appointed, and with him ministers to direct different departments of state; a program of domestic policy has been issued; and an appeal has been addressed to the nations of the world to recognize the free Irish State that has thus been recalled to life. But while the national will has been declared and the mechanism of free government is ready, the former is being stifled and the latter paralyzed by England's ruthless exercise of military power. The President is a fugitive; the Irish Parliament is forced to conduct its business in secret; the most elementary civil rights are abrogated; the courts-martial are sitting at every center; and the gaols are filled with prisoners, victims of every brutality and indignity, whose only offense is that they have sought the freedom of their native land. It is in these circumstances that the Irish nation, through me, addresses the peace conference.

Ireland manifestly comes within the scope of the principles that have been indorsed by the civilized nations, and it is for the application of these principles that the peace conference is now sitting. Ireland is weak; England is strong. Ireland in every possible way has asserted her right to freedom, which England, by sheer militarism, is intent now, as always in the past, to destroy. It is only by the exercise of tyrannical power that Ireland's right to freedom can be denied. It is to the great principle of national freedom, represented and embodied in the peace conference, that Ireland, exhausted by the cruelties of English rule, her population annihilated by one-half within living memory, her industries destroyed, her natural resources wasted, her civil liberties ended, her chosen leaders proscribed and treated as felons, now makes her appeal.