November 13th, 1915:FIFTEEN MONTHS after the start of the first World War, the British government threatened to introduce conscription in Britain by the end of November 1915 unless the number of volunteers increased. The Irish Timesthought the same should apply in Ireland.
We have no wish to threaten Ireland with the prospect of conscription, and we shall not be accused at this time of any desire to provoke national controversy.
For all Irish public men and newspapers, the excitement of argument with old political opponents ought to be one of those luxuries which are not permissible till the return of happier days. It is our duty, however, to protest against the obstinate assertion that Ireland is not going to be affected by the universal necessities of the present war. Mr. [John] Dillon repeated, after Mr. Asquith’s statement in the Commons, that “no Government will attempt to put conscription in force in this country”.
We quarrel with Mr. Dillon’s assertion on two grounds. It injures recruiting in Ireland, since it is a strong inducement to the apathetic to persist in their apathy. It is utterly misleading and may gravely increase the difficulties of applying national service to Ireland if that expedient should become a necessity of war. We are convinced that, if the Government can keep the Irish regiments up to strength by no other means, it will not hesitate to enforce national service in this country, and we are convinced that nothing but harm can be done by inviting the Irish people to regard this prospect as incredible until the very moment when it not only becomes credible, but passes from prospect into fact. Mr. Dillon’s argument, frankly stated, is that the Government will always be afraid to enforce national service in Ireland on account of the wide-spread and dangerous opposition which would be offered to it. That is not even a plausible argument on paper.
There is another argument which, we hope and believe, will have still greater weight with the Irish people. We assume that national service will not be enforced in Ireland so long as this country furnishes that minimum supply of men which, as the military authorities have told us, is necessary to the full maintenance of our own regiments in the field. If the necessary reserves are not provided by Irish volunteers, and if, at Mr. Dillon’s bidding, Ireland is to be excluded from national service, what is to become of those Irish regiments? Are they to be withdrawn from active service as soon as the toll of war has reduced them to skeleton battalions? Are the gaps to be filled and re-filled by English and Scottish drafts until the fighting battalions of the Irish Guards and the Dublin Fusiliers speak with the undiluted accent of London and Glasgow? We owe it to Ireland that this deep disgrace shall not befall her, and, if it can only be avoided by national service, then national service, to save our Irish honour, is a national necessity.
http://url.ie/81yz