Daniel Desmond Sheehan

“ I have heard them in the trenches discussing the selfishness of those at home. Even if they were obliged to exercise the strictest economy, see how much better off they are than the men in the firing line. They at least have decent roof-trees over their heads, comfortable beds to lie on, warm fire to cheer them, friends to meet, and a thousand and one ways of making life tolerable. What, on the other hand, can the men who are fighting their battles enjoy of comfort and cheeriness, or the things that conduce to content ! ”

“ Affright the innocent, the weak and unoffending of the human race.
They came from Bantry and from Donegal,
From all the scattered plains and lowly hamlets in between,
From beauteous Wicklow Vales and lovely Antrim Glens,
Some trudged with broken boots and blistered feet,
Obedient to the fiercely-burning inward urge,
To fulfil themselves unto themselves
And yielding all gain all
That it is given men to win
In fulfilment of the Divine Law of Greater Love. ”

“ You are grossly unjust to them and their splendid sacrifice on your behalf. I sometimes hear people refer to the sacrifice of Ireland in the War, but they have little understanding of the noble way in which the Irish nation responded to the call in the first two years of the War and how gloriously they have served you in many a trying battle in Gallipoli and on the Western Front. You are being brutally unjust to these men. You are destroying the worth of their sacrifice, and if you had taken their opinion you would find that they would not be behind in the course you have now adopted. ”

“ Davitt, too, it is surmised, will once again take that place in the forefront of the fight to which his sacrifices, his ability and his lifelong and incalculable services to the Irish cause entitled him. There is no living man more rightly respected nor esteemed by Irishmen the world over than the Father of the Land league and the indomitable champion of human liberty in all lands, and it is the earnest wish of all nationalists that he may once again come prominently forward to inspire his fellow countrymen by his eloquence and patriotism. ”

“ The heavens were alive with shells of every sort and kind. The earth beneath us shook and trembled and quivered as if in agony from the pounding and smashing and awful battering it was getting. There, across the way at the other end of No Man’s Land, what a catching of the breath, what a tightening grip of the heart, there must have been as the lurid flame of war burst upon them. ”

“ The transformation effected in rural Ireland has been of the most marvellous kind. Anyone who remembers the state of things in the country ten years ago, and who now sees the rural districts dotted all over with happy homesteads — the squalid cabins in which people formerly lived having been removed – and who sees the bright and happy conditions which have replaced the griminess and misery of other days, must feel that we have made a great advance all along the line in this matter. ”

“ Whether it is that the donning of the khaki uniform creates a mental metamorphosis I do not know, but the fact undoubtedly is that our men at the front have established a reputation for a humour all their own, and for that quality of “no downheartedness” which carries them cheerily through innumerable “scraps” and “pushes” and through the very real tests and terrors of daily life in the trenches. It is just this capacity for seeing the brighter side of things that makes life in the trenches tolerable. ”

“ To thy fate’s part!
And meet whatever comes thy ways
With cheerful front, unflinching gaze
and an unfaltering heart.
I have the hope that in thy prime
Thou’ll surely reach the heights sublime
and live supremely. ”

“ Would it not be better for the country, for its social,' industrial, and commercial prosperity, that, instead of having vast areas roamed over by oxen and sheep, that these should be parcelled out into economic holdings and distributed amongst the labourers who were now so steadily leaving the shores of Ireland and taking to other lands that energy, that labour, and those powers which should be devoted to the reconstruction and regeneration of their own country? ”

“ If the war was a just war, if it was waged for righteous ends, if it was in the interest of Ireland to bear arms in it , then assuredly it would be but a beggaring of our support if we were to lay down conditions and to haggle over contingent benefits. ”

“ Nothing could be more unfortunate from the outset than that the question of self-government for Ireland should be coupled with the application of Conscription. You have, at this moment, killed all interest in Ireland in any question of self-government. Conscription is the only question with which Irishmen are concerned at the present moment. You have only to read the papers and the resolutions adopted by public bodies, north, east, south, and west, to see that the only question is that of resisting this proposal to the uttermost. ”

“ Shout it back to Josie Devlin and his standing committee
To the laity and the clergy of every degree
That no power can damp your gratitude that burns in your souls
When you boldly vote for Sheehan and elect him at the poles. ”

“ Our bombardment was not long in motion when the Germans got their big guns under way. The cross-play and the reverberations, the crash and clash of contending guns of every calibre was simply frightful. At this point language fails to give any accurate idea of what was happening. Bullets from machine guns began to whiz around us where we were looking over the parapet: Our sentries in the fire trench had a dangerous duty to perform, but it was a duty from which they never flinched. A sixty-pounder from a trench mortar came over and exploded on the parapet right behind us. ”

“ And what a wonder that they should, seeing that they had held out for a whole day against seven battalions of German infantry, three batteries of artillery, many cavalry and several machine-guns.
Surely, as a great writer remarked: — "If ever surrender was justifiable, it was so in these circumstances." Their achievement was so mighty as to appear almost superhuman. The glory of it can never fade, nor the honour it brings to the fighting fame of the Irish regiments. ”

“ Then came my own turn to explain what I and the other Independent Nationalist associated with Mr. William O’Brien in the All-for-Ireland League conceive to be rational Irish standpoint.
We do not fatuously build our positions upon foundations of sand. We do not ignorantly declare with Redmond that there is no Ulster difficulty. We do not shortsightedly, with the Irish leaders, seek to irritate the susceptibilities of our fellow-countrymen in Ulster by telling them that all their warlike preparations are nothing but bluff and blackmail. ”

“ They cannot understand why the folk at home will persist in ordering their lives as if no great and devastating war were being waged, in which the rights of nationalities and the very destiny of the race are involved.
I find the feeling among officers and men at the front that the people at home do not yet seem adequately to realise the appalling nature and the tremendous magnitude of this war. Those who come home on leave what do they see ? The attempt, at least, on the part of those who remain behind to live the old life of ease and comfort in the old pleasant way. ”

“ We take this measure for what it is worth, and to me it is worth a great deal in the increased comfort and happiness it will bring to our people. You are not only building cottages, but you are building up the natural character of the people. You are not only increasing the material comfort of the people, but you are lifting up the tone of their human life. ”

“ Half an hour in their trenches and all was over. Dug-outs and all were done for. Of the eight officers, four were casualties, two, unhappily, killed, and two severely wounded, of whom one was Lieutenant Batten-Pooll.
Next day at the little cemetery behind our lines I saw the remnant of the raiders paying their last tribute of respect to those who had died that liberty and love and all happiness may live. Could those simple , silent, tender men who stood beside the rude graves be the fierce fighters who carried all before them in a mad and daredevil charge a few hours before? ”

“ The changing of rack-rented farmers into peasant proprietors After years of struggle and sacrifice and increasing strife, the Irish cause has emerged at length triumphantly from the contest, and Ireland is on the highroad to nationhood and independence. Stupendous obstacles had to surmounted, centuries of prejudice had to dissipated, the power of a tyrannical and domineering oligarchy, accustomed to an unquestioned ascendancy, had to be shattered ere the Irish people were in a position to assert their will and to bring the English government to recognize the justice of their claims. ”

“ Schemes of cottages were often prepared with great difficulty and expense by rural district councils, they investigated every claim, and passed none which did not appear to them a just and reasonable one, and yet when these schemes were sent forward to the Local Government Board, when inquiries were held and the result sent down to the councils, after all the care and all the trouble that had been taken in communication with them, was it not a galling state of things that frequently more than one-half of the cottages originally applied for were rejected? ”

“ Who would debase the golden coinage of their heroism
Of that wondrous loyalty and deep devotion
That sanctified the Common clay of man
And gave to life the privilege of dying
That Truth and Liberty and Honour may survive. ”

“ This is a loyal citizen of the Empire, who was a Unionist before the War broke out, but, under changing conditions, came to take a saner view of the Irish question. He goes on:
"What on earth is a loyal man to do, a man like myself who sees the naked horror of it all? One must not say a word or do anything which might aggravate the position or weaken the power of the Empire, and yet one must do what one can to save Ireland first". ”

“ The door is not yet banged upon friendly negotiation, and it will not be well, in my opinion, for England, Ireland or that closer union of the Empire which some of the best minds in all parties intensely yearn, if the weeks are allowed to pass without something better than indefinite conversations between the leaders taking place. These only tend to cloud and confuse the issue and to lead to hopeless misunderstanding- for the reason that neither "conversationalist" is in a position to postulate anything with authority or to concede anything to reason. ”

“ While our men were out in No Man’s Land at the point of assembly, our artillery, at a given moment, belched forth such a fury of shot and shell as I have never seen before .. I have seen worse since, but this was the beginning of those great demonstrations of our artillery superiority which will finally, more than anything else, determine the issue in this war.
To hark back. Our men got into the enemy’s trenches with irresistible dash. They met with a stout resistance. There was no stopping or stemming the dash of the men of Munster. They rushed the Germans off their feet. ”

“ Furthermore, statistics clearly demonstrate that the vast majority of Irish emigrants are drawn from the ranks of the agricultural labourers. Those of us who know rural Ireland well have this conviction forced upon us that something must be done—and done at once—if we are to save the remnants of our labouring population to the country. And so it is we are anxious to have a comprehensive and statesmanlike labourers’ bill next year—a bill which will devise ways for settling the labourer on the soil, for giving them a home and a living in the land of their fathers. ”

“ The land was the sole source of employment, and surely it was incontestable that if the land of Ireland was properly distributed and its productiveness utilised it could maintain in comfort and contentment at least double the present population. It had done so before and could do so again. When the Land Purchase Bill was before the House last year the Chief Secretary postponed the labourers' claims with fair assurances and smooth promises, and now look at what they had got—where they expected bread they had been given a stone. ”

“ Sacrifice is their daily bread of life. They spend long and weary days and nights in the trenches in conditions that almost defy description. They endure all the multiplied horrors of continuous bombardments and rifle fire. They suffer a ceaseless round of duty and routine. ”

“ There is now a British cemetery in the centre of it, filled with the graves of many a hero, where, in years to come, pilgrims from the shores of England, Ireland, and Scotland will come to honour those who died that their country may be free.
Our guide bids us to push along – the sooner we get into the communication trench the better. Out in the open we constitute a better mark for the artillery of the enemy, and so at last we are in the trenches and in the war. ”

“ We said that, wherever the fighting was hottest and severest, wherever there was need of the proved valour of Irish arms, there our fighting race should go to maintain the proudest tradition of Irish chivalry and courage, and to win the heart of England for ever to the side of Ireland by the generosity of our sacrifice and the extent of our support. ”

“ His Excellency recognised that the people of any nation were its greatest asset. That was commonplace truth, but why, then, did not the Government bring in some statesmanlike measure which would achieve that, and not be paltering with a great question by petty, tinkering proposals unworthy of anyone claiming a title to statesmanship? He found from emigration statistics for the year 1903, that of the 39,789 natives of Ireland who left the country no less than 12,892 males were returned as labourers and 1,174 as artisans, whilst over 15,000 female servants emigrated. ”

“ You will make our villages shambles, you will convert our towns into places of riot and bloodshed, and you will leave behind you a legacy of hate for generations to come. You profess to have the welfare of small nations at heart. You are not treating an ancient nation in a spirit to justify your profession. This proposal will react upon the Irish cause the world over. ”

“ It was a standing ground of complaint with the working men in Ireland that the Labourers Acts were not administered in a manner sympathetic to them, and as this was a question which seriously affected the material and moral progress of the country it was one which should engage the very best attention which the Government could bestow on it. He held if there was to be any respect for the administration of the Labourers Acts in Ireland, definite and conclusive reasons should be assigned in each case by the inspector, setting forth the points of evidence upon which he decided to reject cottages. ”

“ At present a young labourer has no inducement whatsoever to stay in his native land. He cannot get a house and an acre of land under the labourers’ acts unless he has someone depending on him, and however wishful he may be to get married and settle down at home the chances are all against him. Hence the claim for allotments, a claim which has the warm support of Mr. William O’Brien and the Irish party. The labourers say, and with justice, that they have an inherent right to the soil, inasmuch as they are in most cases the lineal representatives of the evicted tenants of the past. ”

“ William O'Brien and his friends of the All-for-Ireland League have left no doubt as to their position in this regard. They feel the occasion is too grave and dangerous for equivocation of any sort — for indulging in the politician's game of strategy or maneuvering for selfish party advantage, at a cost that may prove terrible or a calamity that may be overwhelming. ”

“ Trench expeditions are trying, but they never seem to mind them. They are the most cheerful and contented lot I have ever seen. They can joke at the best, or the worst that the Germans send across. I overheard the complaint of one of our men the other saying that the Boche was a very nasty kind of fellow, and no sportsman, since he could not understand the pleasantries of an Irish raid across “No Man’s Land“ which, of course, was all “for the fun of the thing“ and to relieve the dullness of trench life. ”

“ Farmers everywhere were complaining of the scarcity of labour and of the fact that they could not carry out their agricultural operations or get full value out of their land owing to this scarcity. But few farmers had constant employment for labouring hands, and when labourers could now get to America for a few pounds it was not in human nature that they would remain in Ireland on the chance of earning a precarious livelihood for five or six months of the year. ”

“ If we are but true to ourselves, true to our cause, true to those sanctified principles that have been handed down to us by the patriots of the past, the day of our emancipation is at hand and the glory of a struggle nobly fought and won will be ours. ”

“ You are labouring under the wildest and maddest mistake of your lives if you think you will get a single Irishman worth his salt except at the point of a bayonet, and then he will be worth nothing whatsoever to you. Surely the Government cannot have listened to the Debates which have taken place in the past few days without being aware that they are pursuing an insane, wicked and disastrous course. ”