Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 285, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1918 — The Fighting Irish [ARTICLE]

The Fighting Irish

By NORREYS JEPHSON O’CONOR

of Th* Vigilantes

Where ire the fighting Irish? This question has often been asked in the past few months by those who have continually wondered that Irishmen eouid traffic with Germans and, under the name of Sinn Fein, endanger civilization. Those who complain thus have forgotten that noble band of Irishmen and Irishwomen which has been supporting the war since August, 1914. Officers and men of the Irish Guards, the Connaught Rangers, the Munster and Dublin Fusiliers, and of other Irish regiments, have contributed some of the most distinguished pages of the history of the war by their deeds of valor, not to speak of tiie achievements of men of Irish birth and traditions in other regiments from Great Britain and from overseas. The name of the Irish Guards will ever be associated with the retreat from Mons, as the names of the Munster and Dublin Fusiliers will be associated with Gallipoli. It is not too much to say that the most noted Irishmen in every walk of life have been supporting the war and have not been connected with the plans and purposes of the Sinn Fein group. Lord Ardee, heir of the Earl of Meath, the famous commander of the Irish Guards, and the Earl of Kingston, who, though seriously wounded, returned to the trenches, are typical of the long list of gentlemen well-known in Irish society who in four years of war have found the frontiers of Ireland facing the German invader. Lord Dunsany, the most-talk-ed-of Irish writer today, has been with the Inniskilling Fusiliers since the outbreak of hostilities; his protege, Francis Ledwidge, the Meath peasant poet, who has won a permanent place in Irish letters, was a lance corporal in Lord Dunsany’s regiment and fell in action a year ago. Major William Redmond, member of parliament, and the witty Tom Kettle, professor of economics in the National university in Dublin, both gave their lives for the allied cause. Lieutenant Kettle In his posthumous volume, "Ways of War,” has given the Irish opinion of the burners of Louvain; and yet there are some people who assert that if Kettle were now alive he would side with the Sinn Fein party. The answer Is in Kettle’s volume. Among the women, the Countess of Kingston has given fame and energy to the Shamrock Funde for the assistance of Jrish soldiers disabled at the

front. Miss W. M. Letts has been working in a -hospital ever since the war begae, but has not been top busy to write in “The Spires of Oxford” some of the most beautiful poems of the war; while Katharine Tynan has published three books of war poetry. These are only a few representative names takers from a large number. To this number belongs the future of Ireland; their voices will speak with authority at the peace conference, and with them will rest the successful settlement of the Irish question. The fighting Irish are in this war where they have been in every war, battling for liberty and supporting the cause of civilization.