Produced by Jeannie Howse, David Clarke and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) * * * * * +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | | been preserved. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ * * * * * THE IRISH ON THE SOMME THE IRISH ON THE SOMME _BEING THE SECOND SERIES OF "THE IRISH AT THE FRONT"_ By MICHAEL MACDONAGH _Author of "Irish Life and Character"_ _WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY_ JOHN REDMOND, M.P. HODDER AND STOUGHTON LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO MCMXVII TO THE MEMORY OF MAJOR WILLIAM REDMOND, M.P. ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT (IRISH BRIGADE) WHO DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION JUNE 7, 1917 LEADING HIS MEN IN THE ATTACK ON WYTSCHAETE WOOD INTRODUCTION BY JOHN REDMOND, M.P. THE RESPONSE OF THE IRISH RACE This war is a war of liberation, and its battle-cry is the rights and liberties of humanity. From the very beginning of the conflict my colleagues of the Irish Party, and I myself, have availed of every opportunity in Parliament, on the platform, and in the Press, to present this view of it to the Irish race at home and abroad; and despite the tragic mistakes made in regard to Ireland by the successive Governments which have held office since war broke out, we are still unshaken in our opinion that Ireland's highest interests lie in the speedy and overwhelming victory of England and the Allies. The response of the Irish race the world over to our appeal to rise in defence of civilisation and freedom has been really wonderful. The example was set by Ireland herself.