ver hitherto been
asserted. We therefore cannot neglect to support this protest by citing
a main proviso of the Treaty of Union. Before the destruction of the
Irish Parliament no standing army or navy was raised, nor was any
contribution made, except by way of gift, to the British Army or Navy.
No Irish law for the levying of drafts existed; and such a proposal was
deemed unconstitutional. Hence the 8th Article of the Treaty provides
that--

"All laws in force at the time of the Union shall remain as now by
law established, subject only to such alterations and regulations
from time to time as circumstances may appear to the Parliament of
the United Kingdom to require."

Where there was no law establishing military service for Ireland, what
"alteration or regulation" respecting such a law can legally bind? Can
an enactment such as Conscription, affecting the legal and moral rights
of an entire people, be described as an "alteration" or "regulation"
springing from a pre-existing law? Is the Treaty to be construed as
Britain pleases, and always to the prejudice of the weaker side?

British military statecraft has hitherto rigidly held by a separate
tradition for Ireland. The Territorial military system, created in 1907
for Great Britain, was not set up in Ireland. The Irish Militia was then
actually disbanded, and the War Office insisted that no Territorial
force to replace it should be embodied. Stranger still, the Volunteer
Acts (Naval or Military) from 1804 to 1900 (some twenty in all) were
never extended to Ireland. In 1880, when a Conservative House of Commons
agreed to tolerate volunteering, the measure was thrown out by the House
of Lords on the plea that Irishmen must not be allowed to learn the use
of arms.

For, despite the Bill of Rights, the privilege of free citizens to bear
arms in self-defence has been refused to us. The Constitution of America
affirms that right as appertaining to the common people, but the men of
Ireland are forbidden to bear arms in their own defence. Where, then,
lies the basis of the claim that they can be forced to take them up for
the defence of others?

It will suffice to present such considerations in outline without
disinterring the details of the past misgovernment of our country. Mr.
Gladstone avowed that these were marked by "every horror and every shame
that could disgrace the relations between a strong country and a weak
one." After an orgy of Martial