nted in the field than we are to-day by these Irish soldiers.
It is heroic deeds entering into their traditions that give life to
nations--that is the recompense of those who die to perform them--and
to Fontenoy, Cremona, Fredericksburg, and the rest, these soldiers of
the Irish people to-day have added Mons, Ypres, Loos, "V" beach, Suvla
Bay, Lake Doiran. How do the Irish people regard their armies in the
field? How do their brothers at home regard these brothers in the
battle line, who, at the call of danger and national opportunity, by
passing into the soldier's panoply have lifted the name of Irishmen to
a new plane in the world's eyes, and opened to their country's cause a
new outlook? To themselves the same opportunity of ennoblement comes.
The ranks of their brothers in the field are thinning under the
wastage of war. Will they keep them filled? Aye, will they! I have
given my lifetime, such as it has been, to the service of Ireland in a
deep faith in the essential nobility and wisdom of the Irish people. I
should be untrue to that faith if for a moment I had any doubt on this
matter--if I could harbour for a moment the idea that the young men of
Ireland could think unmoved of the wistful bewildered faces of their
noble brothers while they held back, could watch the ranks of the
Irish armies thinning, and the glorious regiments, brigades, and
divisions gradually filling up with others than Irish soldiers until
their character as Irish armies finally vanished and ceased to
exist--and something, I fear, would go with that character which
Ireland might never get back. No, the Irish race has not changed, as
these very soldiers have proved. Chivalry is of its essence, and
nations who do not want to die, but to live, as Ireland does, must act
through their essential qualities. Those brave sons in the field need
not fear for the honour they have won for their country. Their
brothers are coming to them. Ireland's armies will be maintained.

J.E. REDMOND.

_February, 1916_

FOOTNOTES:

[1] One is reminded of tributes to Meagher's Brigade at Fredricksburg
in the American Civil War. "Braver men," writes Horace Greely, in his
"American Conflict," "never smiled at death. Never did men fight
better or die, alas! more fruitlessly than did Hancock's corps,
especially Meagher's Irish Brigade, composed of the 63rd, 69th, and
88th New York, 28th Massachusetts, and the 116th P