WITH THE IRISHMEN AT THE FRONT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2669, 15 January 1916, Page 13

WITH THE IRISHMEN AT THE FRONT

MR. REDMOND ON HIS IMPRESSIONS DEFENCE OF THE STAFF Mr. Redmond returned to London recently nt'ter his week a.t the front, spent in visiting the Irish regiments there. Within two hours of his return ho appeared on, the platform at ,tho Queen's Hall to appeal to Irishmen in London to enlist in the London Irish Hilles. Mr. lledmond, who was only able, as he explained", to get back "to London in time to address the meeting by crossing in a troopship, gave an account of his outstanding impressions as the result of his visit, and intimated that lie Would publish a connected story of his experiences in.a few days. "When 1 was invited some weeks ago to address a meeting in support of the London Irish Regimeut," ho said, "I gladly accepted "the invitation, and I have for sninc time been looking forward with the greatest pleasure to this occasion. But events so fell , out that at the last 'moment, I was very nearly frovented from being here to-night, «nd could not have been here if . I had Hot had the privilege of coming from France this afternoon in a troopship. I have just concluded a visit to the French and English and Belgian lines. •I have just finished the most interesting, the most thrilling, and the proudest week of my life. (Cheers.) That week has been so crowded witli incident, so full of Tilended pathos and pride, and so full of intermixed tragedy and glory, that I feel it impossible for nie at a moment's notice to speak at any length of my experiences or of the impressions that I have brought back. 1 hope in a day or two .it will be possible for me to give to the publio somotliiiig in the nature of a connected narrative, but all I can do to-night is to allude shortly to two or three of the outstanding facts which I feel instantly to discuss.

Five Shells to One. First of all, the one great'imprejssion tliat I have brought back from' the front is the absolute confidence of our troops. There are no pessimists at the front. (Cheers.) From the Comman-der-in-Chief down through all ranks of tho Army, there is.one feeling, that of absolute'confidence in the result of this War'. (Cheers.) I can say from ray experience there - that .there is a universal feeling of- resentment against those people in this country who are spreading the spirit of pessimism. (Cheers.) ' It has been said to me over and over again, Why is not tho "all is lost brigade' sent to the front? (Laughter.) The one remedy for any mail who-is depressed• or despondent is to go to meet the troops: at the' front. The real. trutli of tho matter is: this: So far as the Western front is concerned ".Germany: is beaten. (Cheers.) Every day : and every hour she is getting' weaker on, that front, and we are getting stronger. For every shell the Germans throw to-day wo throw five .■^-(cheers)—and anybody who would attempt to preach pessimism in the English or the French or the Belgian lines to-day would get a very uncomfortable reception. Tho .second great broad impression which I have brought back from my visit is. the amazing character of the "organisation. No one can understand the organisation of that . Army of 1,000,000 men and more who has not seen something of it. We wonder how £4,000,000; or £5,000,000 a day are spent. A visit to the, front is a great revelation.., Although I do hot know much lit military matters,,, I still thoughti,l, had an intelligent knowledge, speaking, generally, about these affairs;;. but I found that I'was in a Btato of; profound ignorance. Nothing more amazing than the spec:taclo of the organisation of the English '.Army can bo conceived. I drove •through miles and miles of motor lorries carrying munitions, food, stores of all jsoi'U, going from the base to the front ■regularly, backwards and forwards like clockwork, without a hitch of any sort or kind, and bringing from the'base enormous stores of every sort and kind. The ; organisation is perfect in every passible respect—the transport of tho -troops, the transport of commissariat, the transport of clothing, and tho transport of ammunition is going on to-day like clockwork.' j Lord St. Davids' Charges Against the Staff. I Thati great/work .'• of organisation, nmazihg as it lis-when .you come to think''of it','.deals with over 1,000,0110 men. That great work of organisation is the work of the administrative staff. I think that nothing more'mischievous or cowardly has ever been done in public life in, this country than the spooch the other day in tho House of Lords of Lord St. Davids, who pictured the General Staff which is working all this great system as having a good time, y.s being mado of shirkers, young fellows of high social position who have taken no taare in tho fighting, and who i- e living idle and vicious lives. I say without circumlocution thai that is; a he. (Cheers.) I have been a witness of the work of this administrative staff. These men are at work beforo 9 ojclock in the morning, and they go on with their work after dinner until 10 or - o'clock at night. So far from leading idle lives, they are the hardestworked men I have ever come across. So far from being" shirkers, almost all tho young men who are employed upon the Staff are_ men who have alreadv served in this war, who have been wounded and severely wounded. I nief) some of these "shirkers leading idle and vicious lives," and I inquired who they were. I found they were men who had been shot through both lungs nine months ago, who had recovered from their wounds, and who had gone now, instead of- being sent right back to tho frout, to help at Headqunrters for the purpose .of doing this work, and working from 9 o'clock in tho morning until 10 or .11 at night., I say that nothing more disgraceful has happened in this country than for anyone, .whether he. be peer or commoner, to usg the privileges of Parliament for circulating libels against l men who are absent and cannot defend themselves. For my part I have often criticised the Censor, but I know of no accusation that can be made against him so great as that of allowing tlieso libels to bo published. If a letter were written of that kind it might have been stopped, but because it was a speech in the House of Lords the Censor allowed it to be published. The unwritten censorship of the Press very often curtails . the reports of speeches in the House of Commons— (laughter)—and sometimes, when we have delivered an oration, which makes us feel proud and even absolutely vain, we are suddenly pulled up the liext morning and brought to our hearings by seeing the reports in the paper which consist of "Mr. Redmond offered it few remarks." (Laughter.) If the Censor has not the courage to censor speeches of that kind made in Parliament.:! think the Press of this country should have that courage—(cheers)— end tho Press of this country undertakes a great responsibility if it gives to members of the House of Lords or of tho-House of Commons . reports of speeches containing libels of this kind, which those who make them dure, not repeat outside the'privilege of Parliament. (Cheers.) The Irish Regiments. My object in going to the front was to pay a visit to tho Irish regiments. 1 nail the honour of meetiua and SDeakinjr

to every Irish regiment at the front, with one exception, and I had to give up the privilege of addressing them in order to have the privilegexif addressing you, I found the Irish regiments full of confidence, full of cheerfulness, and full of fight. (Cheers.) In most oases they "marched on parade to hear my remarks headed by pipers playing "O'Donnoir Aboo" or "God Save Ireland'," and they carried with them ilngs of Ireland. I not only met tliem oil parade, but I met them in the trenches. ~ .* . Let me say just one thing which touched me and filled my heart with hope. In one part of thes firing trenches I went to I found a battalion of the Ulster division from Belfast—(cheers) —side by side with tlie Dublin. (Loud cheers.) I spoka to tliem all, and I found that, so far from any friction having arisen between them, 'they were there' like true coitirades and brother Irishmen. (Cheers.) I pray God that may go on. I pray that wherever an rrish battalion goes into action, there may be a battalion of the Ulster division alongside of them. (Cheers.) I need not-point the moral to you. That is the way to end the unhappincss, the discords, and the confusion 6f Ireland. If Irish people come together in the trenches, risk® their lives together, and spill their blood together, there is no power on earth which, when they como home, oan induce them to turn «b enemies one upon the ;other. "The one complaint 1 have to make with reference to the Irish regiments is that they do not get sufficient recognition in dispatches. (Cheers.) At the front their deeds are - tho theme on every tongue, from that. of _ the Com-mander-in-Chief down ; but if you are tojudgs from the official dispatches they havo done nothing very remarkable. Tonight I repeat an appeal which I made in the House of Commons recently— that when any regiment, English, Irish, Scottish, or Welsh does something particularly gallant there should be official recognition of the fact. (Cheers.) "Take the case of tho London Irish. (Cheers.) Their gallantry at the Battle of Loos I found to bo a theme on every tongue at the front. Every general and every commanding officer I met spoke to" me of what they had done. They were the' first into tho village of Ldos, they captured five guns there; they made victory certain, and they commenced the charge by bringing out a football and dribbling it a'long. (Cheers.) It is hard to bear when one finds in the official dispatches this regiment described as a certain Territorial regi-me-lit. Ido not zrudge the honour and glory of the London Scottish; but why, when.it is not the London Scottish but the London Irish, should the fact bo kept back from the public? (Cheers.) I made' representations at Headquarters in I 1 lance, I have made them in the _ House of Oommons, and I appeal again to-night that credit shall be given to each vegiihent for what it has done, and I am confident that such a recognition will have a magnificent effect upon the whole morale of the regiment and upon the future of recruiting.. (Cheers.) It was a .great regret to me that I ivas.unable to meet and to speak to the London Irish Regiment. When I expressed a wish to meet tho Irish regiments it was understood that I meant the Irish regiments raised in Ireland, and when I got to France I found that a programme had been drawn up of all toy /movements for each- day. I was told that I was under military discipline —(laughter)-and that the programme must not be altered." All I saw of the Loudon Irish was when I drove through the division to which tliey belong, when a number of them wero lined up on the road, and I had tho gratification of being saluted by. many who seemed to recognise me. I have come here to-night to try to do a good uirr. to this great Irish regiment, which ought to be regarded a.v much ail Irish regiment" as the Ministers, or the DuWiji# or the I have come !lps| to-nightj to appeal; to Irishmen in tlie Metropolis to come forward to fi!i > tho ranks of ite battalions,' so ti-at they mav be able to come to the aid : of the regiiiients in tho field. The Desolation of Belgium. Yesterday I; spent in Belgium. I have never in my life felt so thrilled by pity and indignation. I went along the Belgian lines, and I looked out, and I saw in one direction an endless sea of . war where the people had opened the floodgates and .inundated their own land ill order to protect themselves. The water is saltish, and I was told by Belgians'there that it will be ten years after the end of the war before that land can be properly cultivated again. 1 then drove where there was no water for through villages and towns without a single, living inhabitant. There was not a single civilian in some of these towns. There were a few Belgian soldiers ; living in cellars, but there was 1 , not a building standing. Such a scene of desolation and horror you cannot conceive. Churches battered to tho ground, and, what should touch us even more nearly, every house battered to the ground. To go down the centre of the street you have to climb over heaps of broken furniture, broken . statues' of" the Virgin and of our Lord, and the little utensils and household goods of these people in one great mass of ruin. The bombardment still goes on.

To-day in the town of Nieuport which was a flourishing, fashionable seaside resort before the war, there is not a singlo man or woman' or child. The day before we /went there the shelling had been renewed —what military object to be derived from it I do not know. There was just one small portion of one tower of that superb Cathedral standing, and tho day before I went there' the Germans battered it down. I 'read (in the papers before I went a number of stories about crucifixes and holy statues escaping marvellously, but I had not paid very much attention to them. In this particular Cathedral I saw the walls battered down almost to tho ground, but abopt 12ft. high in some placos; while just outside, opposite where the front door had been, there was standing a stone pillar about 14ft. high with' a crucifix upon it, and though wherever.--the eye could reach there was nothing but ruin and. desolation, there was not a scratch upon that pillar or crucifix. It is an extraordinary sight. The crucifix is standing with the ruined church behind it, and all round nothing but desolation and wretchedness. No man could see that without -being profoundly touched. King Albert. Then I was presented to the King of the Belgians. (Cheers.) There is no more heroic figure and no more tragic figure in the world to-day, or .perhaps indeed it would not be too much j to say in the pages of history._ There [he is, a man of magnificent physique, in i the bloom of his manhood, living for the last *15 months in a little detached villa on the sands, within about 30ft. of the sea, facing the cruel, melancholy sea, right in the shell area with shells falling all round or from' time to time. There he stands alone with a kingdom 25 miles long and only 10 miles_ deep, with the remnant,of his people in _ the trenches. He spends his time entirely in the trenches or riding about tho lines or looking across the sea into the immeasurable future for some hope for his country or his people, but not with one quaver in his heart or his mind. There lie stands and there he will stand, whatever the result may be for the- independence of his country and for the rights of his people. (Cheers.) I told him that I could speak on these questions for Ireland —Ireland poor and weak, but yet Ireland determined at'any cost, at any sacrifice, to stand by the Belgian nation. He cordially expressed his sense nf aratitudc for the action of Ireland. Ho told nte he was fintiliar with tho connectinc history of Belgium and Ire-

land, and that all through the war lie had noticed with the deepest gratitude the sympathy of Ireland. Ho suid with emotion to me that nothing had touched liira move than the spcctncle of the poor Irish people in every little parish subscribing money for the Belgian refugees, and he added, "1 have been told that little Irisli children have subscribed money." He asked me to [bring back to the Irish people the expression, of his good will and gratitude, and I ended the interview by assuring him that, come weal or woe, so long as it rested with us in Ireland wo would have no peace which had not as its first condition the repatriation of the Belgians. In conclusion, lot me say that I have brought back from the Irish troops from the front a message to Ireland. I told them that I brought them a message from Ireland of sympathy and of pride and encouragement, and tliey asked mo to bring back the message to Ireland that they felt, every man of them, that in this war they were fighting, not merely for the absolute principle of liberty and right, not merely to avenge Belgium, but that they were fighting for the freedom and prosperity of their own beloved Ireland. (Cheers.) All tliey ask is that Ireland will stand by them. Ireland has sent them to the front, Ireland's duty is to stand by them; and what I would say to the Irish people is that Ireland would for ever be disgraced in tlie history of the world if, having sent these men to the front, they did not raise the necessary reserves to fill every gap that may'arise in their ranks. (Cheers.)