PREPARING FOR WORST.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 August 1921, Page 4

PREPARING FOR WORST.

Soldiers’ Leave Cancelled,

IRISH PARLIAMENT MEETS

ißy Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) I Per Press Asbuciuucu... (Received This Day, 8.55 a.m.) London, August 16. Leave to all soldiers from Ireland has been cancelled, and they _ have been ordered to return immediately. Despite a downpour of rain, an enormous crowd waited outside the Dublin Mansion House for the opening of the Daii Eireann. Traffic was suspended. Large contingents of the Irish Republican Army held the streets for a radius of a hundred yards.

MUST HAVE INDEPENDENCE. DK VALERA’S DECLARATION. NO ALTERNATIVE FOR IRELAND. (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) London, August 16. , As th§ members of the Daii Eireann entered the Chamber, the oath pledging allegiance to a free Irish State was administered. Mr John McNeill was elected Speaker. De Valera, in a lengthy speech, reiterated Ireland’s claim to separation from Britain. He said the only Government which the people recognised was the Daii Eireann. He would report on the negotitaions with the Government, and the proposed reply would be discussed in a private session. He understood it was the intention of the British Government to make that reply an issue between peace and war, hence the first discusstoTT would he held privately and when ready for dispatch there would be another .public session. De Valera, continuing, said he did not say the people had been given a plebiscite for a form of Republican Government so much as for Irish freedom and independence. Hence the Irish Republic, as such, was sanctioned by the will of the people, and their represenlatives solemnly declared the nation's Independence, for which they would give their lives if :i -ecssary, to make the people’s will cflei dve. He added;— “Only on the basis of the reccgnition of a Republic can we deal with any foreign Power. V < stand by that principle and r. an to die for it if necessary. ‘ The British proposals were not ) ;t, and because of that I sent i. j reply.”

VUE SHADOW OF PARNELL. Gi!K \T SCENE IN MANSION HOUSE. (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) London, August 17. The Deiil Eireatm assembled in the Round Room of the Mansion House, where Parnell taade some of his great orations for Irish freedom. Parnell's portrait was hung above the Speaker’s chair. Nearly two-thousand were present in the galleries, including prominent lawyers, rletgy. medical men and business men. When the Clerk c-illed the names of Sir James Craig ami other members of tire Ulster Parliament, and Mr Joseph Devlin, to which, of course, there was no response, there was derisive laughter on the part oi the audience, which was suppressed by the Speaker. Michael Collins (Cominander-in-Chiel of tlie Republican Army) was the first to sign the roll, and received an ovation. Five ladies took the oath, and one Englishman (Erskine Childers). At (he conclusion of De Valera's speech, the Dail Eireann adjourned till to-morrow. sc aasrm ns gjw- 1 ; matt ajgpi