stion, however, was by no means undignified, taken as
an explanation of the ideals that animated the rebels, but it was simply
ridiculous when judged by the hard common-sense standards of stern
reality, though it was probably never meant for anything more than a
rhetorical protest in the name of the fast-ebbing sense of Nationality.

This Utopian outburst perhaps speaks best for itself, and I quote it in
full:--

POBLACHT NA H-EIREANN.
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF THE
IRISH REPUBLIC
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND.

Irishmen and Irishwomen: In the name of God and of the dead generations
from which she receives her old traditions of nationhood, Ireland,
through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her
freedom. Having organized and trained her manhood through her secret
revolutionary organization, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and
through her open military organizations, the Irish Volunteers and the
Irish Citizen Army; having patiently perfected her discipline, having
resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes
that moment, and, supported by her exiled children in America and by
gallant Allies in Europe, but relying in the first place on her own
strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.

We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of
Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be
sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a
foreign people and Government has not extinguished the right, nor can it
ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In
every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national
freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years
they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and
again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim
the Irish Republic as a sovereign independent State, and we pledge our
lives and the lives of our comrades in arms to the cause of its freedom,
of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.

The Irish Republic is entitled to and hereby claims the allegiance of
every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and
civil liberty, equal rights, and equal opportunities to all its
citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness