acts obviously designed to cripple our commerce and trade during the war, and especially with relation to the effect of these "orders in council" as obvious preparation for the proposed British league of nations now being considered. We protest against any situation which permits British vessels to demand and to get free wharves in practically all the cities on the Atlantic seaboard, which represent approximately 5 per cent interest on an American investment of $200,000,000, and which puts it within the power of the alien shipping trust to deny American cities the right to do foreign business through these ports, except at its pleasure. This we do in the name of justice, of honor, and in the American spirit of independence. While the United States remains on the seas by favor of any foreign Government, this country is in economic. slavery. This is an American question. If America settles this question right and the principles under which we entered the war are insisted on, Ireland, with the rest of the world, will share in the resulting benefit. We are Americans first, last, and always. We ask that the present proposal for the league of nations be opposed for the honor of our country. BOSTON ADVISORY COMMITTEE IRISH VICTORY FUND. JOHN MORTON, Chairman; JOHN H. H. MCNAMEE, EDWARD W. QUINN, DANIEL FOLEY, DANIEL T. O'CONNELL, JAMES O'SULLIVAN, Delegates. No. 17. LETTER OF THOMAS F. COONEY AND OTHERS. WASHINGTON, D. C., August 30, 1919. To the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. SIRS: The Irish race of Rhode Island, through its duly-accredited representatives, in attendance at a meeting of your committee, held on Saturday, August 30, 1919, to consider a proposed league of nations, hereby enters its protest against the adoption of the proposed league in its present form. The reasons for our protest are: That it is un-American in that it means the abandonment of the traditions and ideals for which this country has always stood; that it creates an alliance with European powers and forces us to take part in the embroilments of those powers; that it means the enslavement of millions of people; and that it denies to those people the right to determine for themselves the form of government under which they want to live; and that it means the absolute surrender of the principles for which this country fought. Further, we protest against the ratification of the proposed league and peace treaty, because it fails to recognize the government of the republic of Ireland, a government that is the choice of 80 per cent of the people of Ireland, and which is prevented from functioning in every department because of the military power maintained by England in Ireland-a military that is brutal and savage in its treatment of the Irish people. Further, it condones and perpetuates a flagrant breach of the promises made by the representatives of England in procuring the entrance of the United States into the war. The representatives of the Irish race in Rhode Island urge upon your consideration, in support of this protest, the numberless and invaluable contributions of the Irish in establishing and maintaining the American form of government, to which they have looked throughout its history for encouragement and support of the inalienable right of freedom-" That government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." The protest herewith presented is submitted by us primarily as American citizens, mindful of the debt of gratitude owed by our country to Ireland, and desirous of preserving the fundamental principles of our government in their pristine strength and purity. THE IRISH RACE OF RHODE ISLAND, CORNELIUS C. MOON. No. 18. TELEGRAM TO CONGRESSMAN NOLAN REPRESENTING THE UNANIMOUS SENTIMENT OF THE IRISH SOCIETIES OF CALIFORNIA AGAINST SECTION 10 OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., August 29. Hon. JOHN I. NOLAN, Washington D. O. Please represent our San Francisco and nothern California societies and Irish freedom fund committee of California at hearing before committee to-morrow morning. ANDREW J. GALLAGHER. No. 19. JOINT STATEMENT OF MICHAEL L. FAHEY, PAUL F. SPAIN, AND JOSEPH T. BRENNAN, OF BOSTON, MASS. Ireland's claim for independence was given a new birth upon the declaration of President Wilson when our nation joined in the contest for the defeat of Germany. For centuries her patriots had waged the fight for freedom against a world tyrant, against a people who dominated through force, a people who ruled with an iron hand, whose hands were red with blood and who were guilty of the most abominable crimes. What country in all the world has suffered as Ireland in the contest to regain independence? The most outrageous crime, and the one to which little attention has been given, which England perpetrated upon the Irish people occurred during the nineteenth century, when, through its cruel laws, the Irish people were scattered throughout the world. But that result, as shown to-day, strengthened her people, and to-day their power will be shown to be sufficiently strong to compel England to grant to Ireland the independence her people have long prayed for. No. 20. STATEMENT OF HUGH O'NEILL, OF CHICAGO, SPEAKING AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED FOR AN IRISH REPUBLIC. Mr. CHAIRMAN and GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE. The Americans of the Irish race in the great Middle West, as in all other parts of America, urge the defeat of the proposed league of nations because it impairs the sovereignty of the United States, violates the principles for which we entered the war, creates an unholy alliance, nullifies the Declaration of Independence, creates a superstate, endangers the Constitution, destroys the Monroe doctrine, recognizes the breakdown of nationalism and the creation of an international power, gives to England the control of the seas, and guarantees to England the possession of Ireland against the wish of the Irish people. The league of nations impairs the sovereignty of the United States because it places the United States Government under the control of a superstate operating through an assembly and a council, the United States in the assembly having only 1 vote in 45, and England saving 6 and the practical control of the majority of the other votes, and in the council only 1 vote in 9 and no vote at all when her interests are at stake. Because it requires us to maintain permanent armies upon foreign soil to police the discontented subjects of bloated monarchies or crush the tumults of peoples indulging in the wild theories of socialism or anarchy. 66 Because it takes away from the United States Congress the right to declare war or conclude peace. Because it creates a supergovernment that would be an unrestrained and unlimited trust which would dominate our international and domestic affairs. The league of nations violates the principles for which America entered the war, and as the President, the spokesman of America, says, We entered the war for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its people; for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their own way of life and obedience; for the reign of law based upon the consent of the governed; for the rights and liberties of small nations; for affording material guaranties of political and territorial independence for great and small nations alike. "We are fighting for the liberty, the self government, and vindicated development of all people." (May 26, 1917.) "And that the people of the world shall choose their own masters and govern their own destinies, not as we wish, but as they wish." The league of nations creates an unholy alliance and violates the doctrine of George Washington as to no entangling alliances. Are we ready to admit that Washington was a dreamer, that nationlism has broken down, and that a Bolsheviki internationalism shall be the form of our new freedom? An alliance would be destructive of American liberty, and an alliance with England in a league of nations would be abhorrent to the great body of the American people. The league of nations would nullify the Declaration of Independence because it ignores the fundamental truth declared as the basis of good Government that all just governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed. It ignores the self-evident truth that all peoples are born free and equal, because it would leave the Irish in political servitude and seal their doom by article 10, which guarantees the territorial integrity of the signatory powers. The league of nations endangers the Constitution because it suspends the guarantees of the United States and the State constitution. It limits the functions of the Congress, limits the jurisdiction of the Supreme Courts of the United States, and dislodges the powers of both the legislative and judicial branches and either assumes them or places them under the control of the President, thereby making him a virtual dictator. The league of nations destroys the Monroe Doctrine as it takes away from it the character of a national policy and reduces it to the level of a regional understudy. For these reasons we are unalterably opposed to the league of nations. No. 21. STATEMENT OF RICHARD W. WOLFE, OF CHICAGO, FORMER PRESIDENT COOK COUNTY REAL ESTATE BOARD OF CHICAGO, IN BEHALF OF THE COMMITTEE OF 100 FOR AN IRISH REPUBLIC. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I am opposed to the proposed league of nations because its provisions are in opposition to the great principles for which our country fought in the big war, to make the world safe for democracy and to secure the rights of small nations. This denial of the principles for which we fought has filled the hearts of American citizens with disappointment, dissatisfaction, and unrest. I am further opposed to the proposed league of nations because it would doom Ireland to perpetual servitude to England. To do this would be a grave injustice not only to Ireland but also a grave wrong to America. You, gentlemen, have red blood in your veins, and you resent an insult. You are human, and you resist and strike back at anybody or anything that robs you of your property, your rights, and opportunities. It is because of these very human reasons that the Irish question is an American question. We of the Irish race in America resent insult and resist and strike back at the enemy who would rob us and assassinate our character. England in order to maintain her hold upon Ireland thinks it desirable to destroy the influence, assassinate the character and injure in every conceivable way the Irish race in this country. So that it takes 10, 20, or 30 per cent more brains and more energy for a man of the Irish race than for a man of the English or Scotch races, or other races to accomplish the same results in this country. Now, there can not be inflicted upon a part of the community or a part of the nation a loss or injury without corresponding loss and injury to the community or the nation as a whole. The stage Irishman was manufactured in the London music halls and shipped to this country to aid the deadly work of the murderer of the Irish character by that deadliest of weapons, ridicule. Newspapers, books, periodicals, the lecture platform, and more recently the motion picture every avenue of publicity-has been used to besmirch the Irish race in America. Provost Marshal Crowder has reported that the percentage of Irish who waived exemption was much higher than that of English or Scotch or other races. But the English propagandists would have us believe differently. England has spent millions for propaganda, and the lies told about the Irish are enough to curse the world. It is, I submit, sound American policy to remove the cause of this friction, of this humiliation, insult, and injury to American citizens of the Irish race. The cause is the enslavement of Ireland by England. A free Ireland would remove the motive for English attack upon American citizens of the Irish race. Besides, it would, more than anything else, help to bring about that which every good American citizen wants to see, that it is a hamonious American nation, all of the races coming together in the melting pot, and commingling and uniting for the common good of the Republic. There should be no friction between the English race and the Irish race in this country, and there would be none if Ireland were free, because then the business of the propagandist was at an end. The paid lecturers spreading poison and hate against the Irish race in America would be out of a job. The Irish question is an American question, and we appeal to you to look upon it as such. We went to war to right the wrongs of small nations, to make democracy safe for the world. Ireland by a plebiscite has declared for a republic. Indeed, Ireland is the only one of the small nations that has had a plebiscite and expressed its self-determination. How can any American consistently deny Ireland's right to a republican form of government? How can any American deny a republic in favor of an empire with a caste system which is mediocre where the law of primogeniture and entail persists, where a state church takes part in government, where a house of lords rules with all its power of titles, wealth, and prestige? Ireland's case furnishes the supreme example of merciless profiteering and exploitation. Let us take the figures on Irish population. I quote from a British publication, the Statesman's Year Book. It shows that in the year 1800 the population of Ireland was 6,000,000, while the population of England was 8,000,000. In 1850 the population of Ireland rose to nearly 9,000,000. The population of Ireland to-day is less than 4,500,000. The population of England is 36,000,000. John Stuart Mill, the English economist, has stated that Ireland can support a population of 25,000,000. And everyone who knows anything about it knows that Ireland can support a population of 25,000,000 to 30,000,000. Belgium has a poulation of 8,000,000 and is less than one-third the size of Ireland. Belgium and Holland combined are not so large as Ireland. The decline in population is an arrow sign as to Ireland's decay in other ways— industrially, socially, educationally. Before the war Ireland was doing less than one-third of 1 per cent of the export business of the United Kingdom. The ruling class of England is blind, as privileged classes have always been blind. If it was not blind, this English ruling class would realize that Ireland fully populated and prosperous would be a better customer and certainly a better friend to England than Ireland depopulated and disaffected. Ireland would be a profitable customer of this country, far more so than countries far away whose trade we are eager too get. Ireland occupies a very advantageous position in the highway of commerce, a position similar to that of important business corners in the center of city life. Ireland free would be a country of 25,000,000 to 30,000,000, prosperous and thriving, and of great potential value to America. The question is asked, Would we go to war with England to free Ireland? That is not a fair or honest question. That question is not now before us. That question was settled when we went into the war for democracy and the rights of small nations, and when England accepted our aid with that declaration sent out to the world. To keep faith with our soldiers dead in France and Flanders and other parts of the world, to keep faith with the crippled and maimed, to keep faith with weeping mothers and sad firesides of America, that is the question now confronting us. We ask you to save American honor. It is not America, but England, that would go to war should you decide to preserve the faith. England will not dare do it. No. 22. ADDRESS OF MR. SHAEMAS O'SHEEL, REPRESENTING THE WILLIAM PEARSE BRANCH OF THE FRIENDS OF IRISH FREEDOM AND THE WILLIAM ROONEY SOCIETY, BOTH OF NEW YORK, Mr. Chairman and Senators of the committee, within recent months not only have I been made aware of the sentiments of the two socities which I have the honor to represent here, but, having addressed 46 audiences in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, I have felt the pulse of thousands of American citizens, and I am convinced that in the two thoughts which are all I shall try to present to you I correctly represent very widespread and deeply felt convictions. In the first place, Americans of Irish blood oppose any such league of nations as here proposed far more vehemently from a purely American standpoint than from any thought for Ireland. A fact which is proved by the earnest and thoroughgoing approval which every audience I have addressed has expressed when I said that if Irish-Americans were to be offered the bribe of immediate liberation of Ireland, with the repayment to Ireland of every penny ever drained out of her by England as the price of their support of a league which would infringe American rights, there would not be a man or woman of all the millions of them who would consider the proposition for a minute. The other thought is this: Two or three Senators have asserted that Ireland's real hope for liberation must be found in paragraph 2 of Article XI of the present league-of-nations covenant, which reads: "It is also declared to be the fundamental right of each member of the league to bring to the attention of the assembly or of the council any circumstance whatever affecting international relations which threatens to disturb either the peace or the good understanding between nations upon which peace depends." The idea advanced is that under this paragraph a member of the league might befriend Ireland by bringing its condition under military rule to the attention of the governing bodies of the league. That is undoubtedly true-so true that the English authors of the league covenant have guarded against it by a paragraph which I think has not yet been noticed to-day, paragraph 7 of Article XV, as follows: "If the dispute between the parties is claimed by one of them and is found by the council to arise out of a matter which by international law is solely within the domestic jurisdiction of that party the council shall so report and shall make no recommendations as to its settlement." It has been proved here to-day beyond even the attempt to question that the case of Ireland is not a domestic matter, but under all international law an international matter; but that is not the point; the point is that the council shall decide whether they will consider and promulgate it as a domestic or an international matter. If they decide that it is domestic, that is the end. If the people of Ireland were being slaughtered and the American people were aflame to help them, our Government could not even protest further after the council shall have decided that massacre of the Irish people is an English domestic concern. Surely it will be said the American members of council and assembly would never in such circumstances agree to such an interpretation, but if they did not and all others did, there being no unanimous decision, surely the majority decision would necessarily prevail to the extent of estoppng all action by the leage or its members. "And the final point to consider is that this paragraph was not in the original draft of the league made public in February, but added entirely anew in the revised draft-purposely, I believe, Mr. Chairman, purposely to further safeguard England against American sympathy for Ireland being expressed through the league. I thank you.” |